The World Gone Wrong
by Nexus3
Summary: The future is a world gone wrong; The past was/is world going wrong. Can an accident in the futur change things? Deals with Harry and the war against Voldemort. More or less 7th year and beyond(HarryCentric)... *UNFINISHED* -a bit long? :) Reveiw!
1. Prologue: A Prophescy

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and can no way in my dreams replace Rowling. I am merely using her world to let out some ideas.

Oh, and this fic has nothing to do with my other fic.

****

Prologue: A Prophecy

On an old piece of parchment, bound into a book, was a prophecy. The handwriting indicating that it was written hastily.

The rough translation goes like this:

A heir of Slytherin will suffer

And the world will pay the price

Evil will rise again

Grow strong

Reap death

Spread pain

Be stalled by Lightening

And checked by the Phoenix

The heir of Gryffindor will suffer

And strive to bring peace

The light of hope will grow

Bring determination

Prevail through the dark

Endure the torture

Suffer through

And never truly win

A heir of Slytherin will suffer

And the world will pay the price

Evil will rise again

Grow strong

Reap death

Spread pain

Be stalled by Lightening

And checked by the Phoenix

The heir of Gryffindor will suffer

And strive to bring peace

Then the Griffin will Lightning, 

And Destiny will follow

Changing what is

Changing what was

Changing what will be

Changing what can be

Changing what shall be

In a secret room at Hogwarts an old man stood over the ancient book, staring at the page. The man, whose hair and beard were completely white, sighed and stood up. "I don't suppose you know what that means?" He asked, his eyes on a brilliantly colored phoenix.

The phoenix only trilled in response. He sighed and closed the book, putting it back in it's place among the many other ancient books on the shelf. He walked away, through the lowly lit room. He walked down the winding path to a door, and through it. He paused long enough to utter a phrase in Latin, then made his way to the Great Hall. The students would arrive soon, among them Harry Potter, for his first year.

Hey people who are starting this fic:

**Warning!** It's really long -and not done yet.

But, it's well written.

And good, if you care about Harry, Voldemort, or time travel.


	2. 1: A Mistake

A wizard, who _appeared_ to be in his mid twenties made his way through the jungle.

Even at this late hour it was alive with noise, full of life. The man stepped carefully over fallen trees, around bushes, under leaf laden branches. His bright red robes were unnatural to the colors of the jungle, even now becoming muted with the fading sunlight.

He morphed into a panther and in this dark form he quietly continues on his way through the jungle. He had received one of his lovely visions earlier that night, and hadn't had time to call for help before setting out; Only enough time to pack what he might need, send a few letters, secure his home, and be on his way.

He didn't mind going solo all that much nowadays, regardless of the odds. He'd spent too much time fighting in his lifetime to pay much heed to fear.

Voldemort was long dead; The Coalition was more or less defeated. That had not been the end of it though; Decades later, dark forces still moved about in the undercurrents of the world. 

In his vision, or rather right now, a group of dark wizards was planning to go into the past. How they were planning to do it without a time turner was beyond him -not that one would do them much good. Time turners only went so far back... Though that was enough sometimes. The world had discovered _that_ in the temporal war. Depending on your point of view it had been either excruciatingly long, and shockingly brief.

When he came into view of the unnatural clearing, he paused and took measure of the situation. If he hadn't been a panther, his eyebrows would have risen. There were wizards from more than five countries there, and they were already in the middle of whatever it was that they were doing. 

As he saw a shimmering portal open he mentally cursed. No time at all. 

He became the dark haired wizard again and dropped his backpack at the bade of a tall tree.

Ron would call him nutters if he were still alive.

He took off running forward. 

He rapidly shot the killing curse at the wizard about to enter the portal, striking him down. Normally he wouldn't be so quick to use that, but he recognized that wizard -and some people just deserved what they got. 

Honestly though, he couldn't risk the wizard blocking The curse. Unlike in the past, it _was_ possible.

The gathered wizards were startled into movement. Some spun around trying to locate their attacker, others ducked to avoid getting hit. Some had no choice but to continue chanting. 

He swerved left, behind a tree, to avoid some nasty curses and hexes.

He did not have time to hide however, so he continued running. He caste his own curses on the way, most hitting their mark.

He took out a grenade and caste it toward the main group of the wizards, intending to stop the spell one way or another. Tampering with the past was damned hard to fix. He ducked behind a cabin, obviously magically enlarged, as it was ridiculously small on the outside. 

The explosion ripped through them. The shadow from the cabin seemed darker against the light the explosion cast on his surroundings. The chanting stopped, replaced by screams. Sometimes, muggle weapons were indeed useful. 

His attention moved back to the portal just in time to caste a charm. The three running for it bounced backwards a few feet away from their goal, falling unconscious.

Harry ran forward now, next to the portal. Most of the wizards had run off and apparated, not wanting to be caught. They didn't know how many wizards were attacking. Some of them just recognized who they were fighting. Reputation had it's uses.

He pocketed his wand after stunning a few of the injured, and caste a shielding charm around himself –a useful bit a wandless magic he could perform. He looked at the portal and whistled. It really was an amazing bit of magic –but how was he to shut it down?

"Potter, damn you." He spun around when he heard his name. A woman, in her thirties, stood not far away with her wand pointed at him.

"So you're the master mind." He knew her –a damned powerful witch with the mind to match. Not unlike Hermione had been. "The past is the past. Let it go."

"No. This my only chance."

He expected her to foolishly begin cursing him, but she just stood there. "You didn't think I'd forget about your damned visions or contacts, did you? The most powerful wizard in the world right now. I probably couldn't get past your shielding charm no matter what spell I tried."

He made the mistake of relaxing slightly. She noticed. She whipped a gun out of her robes and fired away.

He dodged sideways, having developed quick reflexes over the years. But as fast as he was, the gun was faster. She just kept firing steadily moving the gun after him.

He felt pain rip through his arm, then his stomach. While he had been subjected to torture, that fact didn't stop him from being phased by such sudden and intense pain.

He stumbled. 

Backwards. 

Into the portal.

Energy ripped through him. He felt displaced, dislocated, ejected, not really there, wherever _there_ was. Then he impacted with something hard, which he recognized as the ground from so many similar experiences during Quidditch matches, right before he lost the fight to stay concious.


	3. 2: Presents!

"Harry!" The annoying voice pierced through the blissful unconsciousness of sleep.

"Mumph," was his pained response. 

"Come on!" …Some people should be muted for life.

"Ergh." As in, _Go Away!_ The young man with raven hair had not moved a muscle, and continued to lie there as if petrified.

"Don't make me sic the twins on you."

"Ack!" His return to the world was indeed spurred by this threat, and his face muscles twisted into a grimace.

"That's what I thought. Now get up mate!"

"Why, god, why?" His voice was thick was sleep.

"Presents!" came the delighted voice of Ron Weasley.

Harry couldn't help it. As he rolled off the bed he started laughing, another emotion breaking through his initial ill will towards his friend. "That's the driving force in your life, isn't it." His voice was filled with amusement.

"Hurry up," was the only response to his question.

Ron left, heading back to his own room, but Harry knew he'd be back in a matter of minutes. Any thoughts of climbing back onto the inviting bed and falling back into a slumber were quelled by the knowledge of the rude awakening he would receive. Ron was persistent. 

Harry had Percy's old room now. 

He had enlisted everyone's help in decorating it –and he took out all his years of not having his own room on the once perfect room. Now it was brightly colored, with nearly every bit of furniture a different color (due to everyone's arguing on what color his room should be). For example, one wall was bright orange (Ron) and the one across from it was a light blue (Hermione).

The wall's colors didn't matter so much, as they were filled with, well, everything. Posters of Quidditch teams, famous witches and wizards, pictures donated by Colin of his friends and Hogwarts, a world atlas Hermione had insisted on, and so forth. Even the ceiling was also relatively full, mainly with a brilliant animated painting of a Gryffindor; That had been Ginny's idea.

All too soon he was following his best friend down the stairs of the Burrow. "Who ran you over with a truck?" asked his loving godfather, seated at the Weasley's kitchen table. Most of the Weasley family was already there, barring Bill and Charlie. The twins were in the livingroom bothering Percy; Harry could hear his annoyed voice. 

Mrs. Weasley was already cooking something delicious, but his brain was to tired to sort through the smells at the moment to figure out exactly what.

He grimaced at his godfather while Ron discovered his only other priority besides presents "-Food!"

"Morning, you two," offered Hermione, who was sipping on a cup of coffee. She had become addicted to it 6th year and rarely started a day without it.

"Hi, Harry," said Ginny graced him with a brilliant smile.

"Morning, everyone, Gin," he replied with a yawn. He brightened slightly when Mrs. Weasley placed a large plate of food in front of him. She had made it her mission to fatten him up after Ron confessed that Harry's relatives damn near starved him. While this had mostly irritated him, right now he _was_ rather hungry. As he should be; If you looked at him you would see a tall, lithe young man.

"Is Remus coming?" he asked his godfather, who was carrying on a conversation with Mr. Weasley about this motorcycle.

"Yep, this afternoon."

The twins came into the kitchen, grinning broadly. Everyone looked at them warily.

"What?" Fred asked this as they noticed the suspicious looks.

"We could ask that," responded Mr. Weasley.

"I'm sure they are perfectly innocent," said Sirius in their defense. This only earned a huff from Mrs. Weasley.

"Yeah."

"Definitely."

"Right."

"Of course."

"Positively!"

"How could you doubt us?"

"What kind of family is this?"

Ron cut them off by asking, "How's the shop?" The twins had opened up a joke shop in Diagon alley after they graduated, and it thrived despite the times.

"I do think our dear brother is trying to shut us up."

"Maybe we should show him our new invention."

"Not unless you want to get hurt," interjected Mrs. Weasley.

"Bill," Mr. Weasley said warmly as the aforementioned son arrived, with colorful packages in his arms.

"Hi Bill –presents!" said Ron, his eyes on the packages.

"Ron!" admonished Hermione hopelessly. Harry grinned, remembering his earlier amusement.

"Nice to see you to Ron. Hi dad, mom. Charlie here yet?"

"Not yet –he said he would be here this afternoon."

Several minutes later they heard someone calling from the fire, "Minister, minister?" Mr. Weasley got up and conferred with him for a bit before telling them all that he had to go to the ministry for a couple hours.

"Arthur, it's Christmas!"

"I won't be gone long, promise."

Harry glanced at the Weasley clock, on which Arthur was moving from Traveling to Work. Harry and Hermione had been added to the clock as well. When his eyes alighted on his own arm on the clock, pointing to home, he smiled. He was happier than he had been in a while.


	4. 3: Back At School

After a restful Christmas break at the Burrow, Harry and his friends found themselves back at Hogwarts. Unlike their earlier years at Hogwarts, they no longer lived in the Gryffindor dorms. 

Instead, select students were moved into new dorms. Much to Harry's dismay, the students in the new house had christened it Lightning. You can guess how they came up with that name. They still belonged to their old houses for all intents and purposes, but took some different, more intense classes. They didn't have their own Quiddich team, for example, but they had house colors -red, green, blue, yellow, and black.

It also solved the problem of over crowding –Hogwarts had many more students now. A lot more teachers too; Now there were generally two teachers a subject, one teaching first through fourth years, and the other fifth through seventh. Lightning students took extra classes and that called for even more teachers.

He left the boys dorm and entered the common room where he greeted his former girlfriend, "How was your Christmas?" They had broken up just moths ago, but were still close.

Ariana, "It was a break I needed. I don't have to ask how yours was -you look happier."

"The Weasley's are great," he replied with a heartfelt grin.

Ariana originally went to another, smaller school in Britain, until 6th year when she'd come to Hogwarts. Nowadays Hogwarts had a hell of a lot more students, both from other schools in Britain and form foreign schools. Voldemort had reached out into other countries and caused enough trouble to worry some parents. So they sent there children here; Other former students went elsewhere, their parents instead fleeing Britain.

"Hermione and Ron already went down," she said, referring to the Great Hall.

"Alright," and they headed down for lunch.

The Great Hall now had five tables, the new one directly in the middle; The hall had been magically enlarged to accommodate it. He and Ari took a seat across from Ron and Hermione. He sat next to Brian, who had come to Hogwarts in his 5th year. He was actually _from_ Scotland.

Harry greeted him, then added, "Dumbledore said he was calling a meeting today." 

"He say why?"

"Nope." Dumbledore was the head of the Order of the Phoenix –he sometimes called extra meetings, in the event that there was something they all needed to know. Todays meeting was going to have as many members as well available. Sometimes though, there were meeting involving only the senior members. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Brian were the few student members. Brian had lost a brother to Voldemort, after his family was attacked for supporting Dumbledore. Apparently his father was a friend of Dumbledore's, and one of the few to believe him right away when he said that Voldemort was back.

"I heard that the number of people in training to be Aurors has tripled," said Audrin Myers, who was sitting across from Brian.

"Figures." Was all Brian said.

"I probably will," said Ariana, "become an Auror I mean. Even if Voldemort is defeated."

"I heard that the Ministry was planning on assembling another fighting force, separate from the rest, with it's own autonomy." Audrin caste a pointed look at Harry, who scowled; For some reason people looked up to him, and expected him to become a leader in the war. He probably was, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, just saying. Sounds like a good idea." As in, I would want to be a part of it. 

Brian glanced at Harry, knowing full well he was probably in a bad mood now. 

Hermione had caught the end of the conversation, and was now eyeing Harry. He was a naturally good natured person, despite all that he had gone through. He was constantly beset by nightmares of what Voldemort or his minions were doing –several times a month sometimes. Not to mention that the past several years had been _adventurous_ as the first four. 

"Harry, what happened with Snape yesterday?" Harry's face, now often beset with weariness or sorrow, assumed a put upon expression.

Ron, with his selective ears, pulled out of his conversation with the boy next to him. "Oh, he really…" And began his diatribe. Harry didn't feel the need to insult Snape anymore, but Ron was the same as always. Scratch that. He _was_ more inventive.

Harry cut in, "What are planning for the team?" Ron's face lit up. He was still captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team; Harry was still seeker. It was amazing just how ferocious an argument Slytherin put up about it, even though they got to keep their players who were moved.

All in all, the Slytherin's were quieter this year, though still as hateful as ever. Ron, Harry, and Hermione had all received an Order of Merlin, third class for being instrumental for saving the Minister's life. Ron's father had been newly appointed, and near the top of Voldemort's hit list. 

That was a long and convoluted story –but had resulted in Lucius becoming a wanted criminal. Draco hadn't returned to school this year.

Voldemort's move on the ministry was not exactly a surprise, and it had only been a matter of when he would attack. He waited too long, busy gathering dark creatures and death eaters, extending himself across the world. While this would help him in the long run, it had given Dumbledore enough time to block him.

The ministry had been moved to a 'safe location' before Voldemort even attacked. How they had managed to keep Voldemort from finding out was an amazing mystery. After all, the ministry was pretty damned big. Where it was now, Harry knew not. 

Harry had listened Sirius complain about having to wait through two hours of security measures before they would let him talk to Arthur. An hour was mandatory now to check for Polyjuice Potion, but Sirius was certain they made him wait just because of who he was. Which, he had been forced to admit, might be true. Despite his being cleared, old prejudices died hard.

He realized that lunch was over by Ron's waving a hand in front of his face. "You alive, mate?"

Hermione said, "Don't be rude Ron."

The red head just rolled his eyes in response.

"Honestly."


	5. 4: Night Patrol

Harry moved silently down the corridor in his invisibility cloak. It was past midnight, thus dark and gloomy, even somewhat eerie. Even so, he felt at home. 

The seventeen year old _was_ technically sneaking around, but unfortunately, he had permission. Nowadays the teachers had enlisted prefects to help patrol the halls; Aurors patrolled outside the walls. A few Order members monitered the school through other means.

He often wandered around at night anyway, so he didn't mind the job. Most didn't -the idea that they were helping to protect the school instilled a sense of pride within them, made them feel _usefu_l. There was only so much that the students could do, after all.

A buzzing in his head, which he had initially taken for a inconsequenscial, swiftly intesified; His steps faltered. He staggered to a wall and leaned against it, no longer seeing with his eyes. 

A small voice saying, "Hey watch it mister!" went unheard.

During the confusing experience, he got the impression of a jungle, just briefly. 

The blurred image filled with green and brown imprinted itself in his mind.

Unbeknownst to him, his eyes glowed a bright green.

When the feeling passed, he found himself staring at the wall he was leaning against, once gain aware. He didn't move for a moment, dispite the pervasive chill of the stone. He glanced around, checking to see if anyone or anything else was around. Only a few portraits, one of which was giving him a death glare.

All was quiet.

Now, suddenly, Hogwarts did seem eerie.

He swept off down the hall, deciding to see the Headmaster.

He didn't see anybody else on his way to Dumbledore's office, and soon found himself in front of the familiar stone gargoyle. For once he actually knew the password –his own personal password. "Riddle."

Instead of knocking on the office door when he reached the top of the stairs, he turned left. When he found himself in front of a tall portrait of Merlin, he took off his cloak and folded it over his arm. "Sir, are you awake? It's Harry."

After a minute the portrait swung back, and Dumbledore beckoned him inside. The man was too clear eyed for him to have been asleep when Harry called, despite the fact that he was wearing his cheerful nightclothes.

Dumbledore took a chair by the fireplace, which was already burning brightly. Harry sat across from him on the plush couch and waiting for the Headmaster to speak, as he seemed to know why Harry was here. "I assume you felt that?"

"What _was_ that?"

Ever the teacher, Dumbledore answered. "In a way, magic connects everything. Major events make –ripples, if you will. That is what makes prophecies possible. Those with a great deal of power can feel major magical events."

"So you felt it too –but what exactly was that?"

Dumbledore frowned, "I truly don't know. However, I think I do know _where_ it happened."

"I got the impression of a jungle."

"Whatever it was, I hope to find out. I've already contacted some operatives, and they should get there before noon –I think it would be best that they find whatever is to be found before others do."

"Such as Death Eaters," Harry said knowingly. "How many people would have felt that?"

"There is no way to know, but we felt it despite the distance involved. Perhaps that made a difference, perhaps not."

Knowing he wouldn't be able to learn any more about it tonight, Harry asked, "How are the Beauxbatons students?" Only three weeks ago the French school had been brutally attacked in a successful attempt to demoralize the French wizard community. 

Voldemort was so secretive that he kept most of his plans a secret from his own Death Eaters, making it all the harder for the Order of the Phoenix to anticipate him.

"As well as can be considering the circumstances. I hear you've been learning French."

Harry smiled slightly. "Yeah, Fleur, her sister, and Hermione have all been trying to drill some of it into my head. I thought it would be a good idea, seeing as I'm Head Boy." He hadn't wanted to accept, but Dumbledore had convinced him; He took his responsibilities to heart, not wanted to disappoint Dumbledore.

"Indeed." Dumbledore stood and Harry took the cue. "Now go and get some sleep. I seem to recall that there is a Prefect meeting in the morning." The Headmaster could see the signs on the boy's face that he wasn't getting enough sleep. Harry hadn't been getting enough sleep, in fact, for years. 

Nor had Dumbledore, truth be told. But he was the Headmaster and leader of the Order, and so few dared to suggest he get more sleep. Those that did were easily put off the matter, as he had his ways.

Harry winced, but it was pointless to argue, so He picked up his cloak and moved to the door. He paused, and added pointedly, "_Goodnight_, Sir."

Dumbledore smiled fondly after him.


	6. 56: Jungle

The first thing he was aware of was the heat. The kind of heat that should only belong in a sauna. 

Then the sounds: birds chirping, trilling, squawking. Leaves rustling. Other sounds he couldn't identify.

'_Do I have to wake up_?' He thought.

'_Yes_.' He answered himself.

He was fairly certain a bug had just crawled over his hand.

'_You sure_?'

'_Stop stalling_.'

He opened his eyes, and the light hit him. 

When his eyes cleared, he saw foliage high above, trees arcing upwards with vines twisting their way around them. He also saw movement; Birds flittering from here to there, some fuzzy animal making it's way up a tree. The sky beyond was just lightening with dawn. It didn't seem to be a magical forest, which was probably a good thing. One tended to come across _interesting_ creatures in them.

He stirred and groaned, his hand going to his stomach; The hand that was attached to the uninjured arm.

Gritting his teeth he managed to stand, clutching a nearby tree. Looking around he noticed that there was no sign the wizards. No sign of their camp. No sign that anything human had ever been here.

"Bloody hell."

He was willing to bet that his backpack was also gone.

He took inventory. He still had his wand, and some spare potions. Unfortunately the numbing potion had shattered. Which meant that what he was about to do would hurt.

He sat back down and drunk one of his few remaining potions. Then he put a hand over the bullet hole in his arm. He concentrated. The arm started to burn. With a grunt the bullet shot out of his arm into his hand.

He held on to it a moment, waiting for the pain to die down a bit; Then he tossed it away.

He repeated the process with his stomach. Hopefully he hadn't lost too much blood –that's what the potion he drank was supposed to help with. He took out his wand and murmured a healing spell.

He felt unconsciousness pulling at his mind. He quickly drank another potion and started to concentrate. He knew that it would be bad for his enemies to find him in this condition. If his suspicions were correct, Voldemort would be alive right now –and he really didn't want _him_ to find him. 

Soon a cobra lay where he had previously been seated. If he'd tried that with the bullets still within him, he might not have survived the transformation.

************************************************************************

An old witch stood exactly where the portal had been, her eyes closed. One arm was at her side; The other clasped a staff, which was held out vertically in front of her. The blue stone that rested ontop of the staff seemed to shimmer slightly, though no one was looking at it.

Several members of the Order milled about looking for clues. They had not found much. Someone had been here, injured and losing blood. Whoever it was, they were gone now.

A falcon flew through the jungle towards the group, and landed. Soon it was no longer a falcon, but a man with blond hair and dark blue eyes. He announced, "A dozen Death Eaters -at least, headed our way."

A man with an eye that seems to whirl about on it's own frowned. "Why would they send that many?"

"Doesn't matter. They won't find anymore then we did."

"We should get some Aurors and take them down." As there were only five of them, this idea had merit.

The old woman opened her eyes at last. "Albus sent us to find out what happened and report back."

"We didn't find anything, so why not make this outing worthwhile?"

"We found more than you think, or rather, I did." She waved away their inquiries and asked if they were all ready to apparate. "-I'm too old for this Merlin forsaken heat.

************************************************************************

I'm betting you've figured out what's going on at this point :)

************************************************************************

Harry left Dean and Neville in the common room, where they had been working on a project. He figured now would be a good time to accomplish a few things. 

It seemed like he always had something to do nowadays.

Harry found who he was looking for in the Quidditch stands. The boy had come to Hogwarts a month after the schoolterm started, as a third year. He was an American who had lost his father to a Death Eater attack –one of the only ones in that country. In fact, it had likely been _targeted_ for his father. His mother had already been dead for years, from some illness.

The young Hufflepuff's grades were understandably awful. One of the Hufflepuff prefects had asked Harry to talk to him. Apparently, she had had a muggle friend who committed suicide, and was worried that the boy might do the same.

Harry sat down beside him and the boy cast a furtive look at him. "You're that Head Boy, aren't you?"

"Yep. It's nice to sit here, isn't it, quiet."

The boy nodded.

Harry asked, "What's your name?" He did, of course, already know.

A quiet, "Mark."

"Harry," he offered in return.

Hesitantly, the boy spoke. "Why are you here?"

"To talk to you."

The boy knew it had to be about his grades are something. "I miss my father." Even as he said it he wondered why he did. He hadn't spoken to many people since –well, in a while.

"I know," he said, already having decided what angle to take the conversation. Make him pity me more.

"But, aren't you Harry Potter? Your parents died before you knew them right?"

"Yeah, but that just makes it worse."

"You trying to make me feel sorry for you?"

Curse all perceptive thirteen-year-olds. "Yep."

"Your saying I should be happy for the time I had."

That was easy. "Yep."

The boy sighed. "He shouldn't have died. My mother shouldn't have died."

"Just don't lose yourself Mark. Keep going. For them. For you. For –if need be- the hope of vengeance. There are things to live for -friends you can make. Friends _are_ worth it."

"I hear you."

"It helps if you have something to work towards," Harry said and looked expectantly at Mark.

The boy hesitated. "Teaching. I want to be a teacher -which is really weird considering I don't pay any attention to mine…"

Harry grinned, "Well, you'll just have to be more interesting."

The boy smiled back breifly, then asked, "What are you working towards?"

Harry's automatally thought, _the freedom for my and my friends to live our lives in peace… _Harry stood. "If you ever want to talk, you know I'm here, right?."

"Okay."

Harry silently handed the blond boy a small, colorful box. "Some friends asked me to handle the distribution of these."

The boy cautiously looked it over then smiled slightly, "Aren't these on Filch's list?"

"Yes, well, I have an arrangement with the -what does he call them now?"

"Generally, it's 'The Bloody Miscreants.'"

Harry left the stands and headed back towards the school. After he was out of hearing distance, he exhaled. It had seemed to go alright.

Now to the next task of the day.


	7. Breif Author Note

I am keeping this page for author notes, since it's already here.  
  
-Last updated February 19th  
  
*New readers might as well read to the end of the story before reading this*  
I'm going to post chapters about every week though I right this after a three week interim. I swear it only happened maybe once before though.  
  
I think that there is going to be a sequel, because I'm not sure anyone's going to want to read an incredibly long and drawn out story -and I keep getting new ideas.  
  
Reviews are always nice -and flames, but I won't just ignore those (if they are worthy of a response). Suggestions!  
  
I generally have more chapters already written -until I edit them obsessively and screw them up. My chapters *are* short, but as the story continues they keep getting longer for some reason.  
  
I haven't written the whole thing yet so if I edit any already posted chapters to a major degree I'll tell you. I've been mulling the older Harry over in my mind -exactly what he's going to be like, how powerful he is.  
  
Feel free to e-mail me with comments or questions. I do appreciate suggestions for good stories. -I have a liking for dimension shifting stories.  
  
Lastly, I probably wont write the names of spells used, as I'm terrible at coming up with latin names for spells -unless someone has some ideas to help me?  
  
Happy reading.  
  
Much appreciation to Darth Flirt, and Enialedam. Ki-Rha, as well as roary14, Ghostdancer, and Illusoire. 


	8. 67: Debate

When he finally awoke, he had the feeling that days had passed. Willing himself to move, he then transformed again. He stretched, wincing slightly at his not fully healed wounds.

They were healed to the point though, that they wouldn't be hard to take care of. He took out his wand, and minutes later, he was fine.

'Yay, more scars.'

He looked around him and remembered what had happened. He groaned, and pushed himself off the ground.

"Damn."

'Stop cursing, what would Hermione have thought?'

'She might agree with me at this point.'

He had little doubt that he was now in the past, but had had to confirm it. And found out _when_ he was. 

Then he would decide what to do. What an accident, but, not necessarily a bad one.

He concentrated for a moment, and soon he had brown hair and blue eyes. Another useful piece of wandless magic that had taken much practice. Definitely came in handy though, to be able to do that without a mirror. He already did have an awful lot of practice disguising himself.

He disapperated.

************************************************************************

Harry checked his watch and realized that his mind had wandered off. He would come and sit atop the Gryffindor tower occasionally –no one knew about this particular hiding place, not even Ron or Hermione. And now he had to leave, well, now.

He grabbed his Firebolt and jumped on.

About a half hour later he walked met up with Brian outside Dumbledore's office. They walked up together and went in without bothering to knock.

Dumbledore looked up from his desk. "Hello boys –tell them I'll be there in a minute. Harry nodded and they walked through a secret door, and down a hall leading into another room.

The room was large and filled with various chairs. People were already inside, some already having taken seats, others standing around chatting.

Harry grasped Sirius' shoulder briefly with a smile before he took his customary chair. He'd claimed it as his own once he discovered how comfortable it was. "Hey, Remus, Bill, Mr. Weasley," he said with a smile of greeting.

"Dumbledore said he'd be a minute."

Ron and Hermione walked in and sat down by Harry. They all talked quietly until Dumbledore entered and everyone took a seat. Dumbledore sat in front of a small table, a mini-map of the world that could expand into any given country.

They listened to the various updates of Voldemort's movements, discussing, and updating the map. For example, when Fletcher reported that one of Voldemort's hideouts had been abandoned, the red spot turned black.

Soon it was Arthur's turn to report. "There's been a large push in the ministry to get the Unforgivables authorized."

And thus began a debate. Moody, for example, for all for it; McGonagall was dead set against.

"So we should become what we are fighting? Where's the sense in that?"

"We have to fight back."

"Not with the Unforgivables."

"We should give as good as we get."

"Yes."

"But they are wrong!"

"There is a reason we used them last time –we had to."

"No, there is no justification for using those abominations."

"Oh? How about 'they deserve it.'"

At this point Dumbledore broke in, "Calm down."

"Sorry, but we are in a war here. We don't have time for the faint of heart."

Harry had been listening, and had his own idea. "The killing curse. Just authorize the killing curse and not the others."

"I think he's right."

"That's the worst of the three!"

"No it sure as Hell isn't –the Cruciatus is the worst."

"At least you're not *dead* afterwards."

"But you wish you were."

"How can you decide who lives or dies?"

Harry spoke up again, "Muggle police face that decision all the time. If a criminal has got a gun and intends to shoot someone in a few seconds, you've got to shoot him." 

"They don't have the opportunity to just stun them like we do."

"And when he wakes up and you are not around? You going to watch them all the time? If he catches you unawares, your history."

"Constant Vigilance!"

"That's the ministry's job."

"Now there is an idiotic statement."

"What do you think Azkaban is for?" Sirius winced at this.

"In case you've forgotten, the Dementors left Azkaban nearly useless."

"So we should just kill them because we don't want to deal with them."

Ron was turning red, and spoke up for the first time in this particular debate. "Well, they fully intend to kill us or worse!"

"I think we all have put in enough input for now." Dumbledore easily cut through the rising tension in the room. "Now, several weeks ago something involving a great deal of magical energy occurred in Africa."

"What?"

"That, is why I sent a team to investigate. Someone managed to travel through time without a time turner –I am at a loss to explain how." He glanced at Moody.

"Only one or two people came through, and one of them was injured."

Confused frowns could be found on several faces. Why would the traveler be injured?

"Do you know how far in time?"

"Ah, an old friend of mine, Natalia, felt that it was not too great distance. I agree –it could not have been much more than more than a century, or it would have been impossible to accomplish. She also surmised that it was more than two decades."

Several faces wore grim looks. Whatever reasons the traveler had for going that far back in time were not likely to be good. It was actually kind of strange –the general reasons for going back in time would be to stop someone from being killed or to change the outcome of an event. 

But going back a century made that unlikely… Historically, people trying to get a hold of time turners wanted to go back into their recent history to try and prevent a tragedy; It just wasn't practical to go much farther than that. 

"I don't suppose we have any idea where the traveler went?"

"No idea."

They mulled it over in their heads, and turned to other matters.


	9. 8: Delightful Visions

As he had so many times before, he woke up to his own anguished yell. He clutched his forehead and lay there, listening to his own strangled breathing. 

He had only slept a few hours at most. The rest of the boys in the dorm slept on, including Ron. He wondered what they were dreaming about.

Some of the Hell Spawn –er, Death Eaters –had been having a party. Their parties were more like torture –for him anyway. He felt the contents of his stomach roiling around. He couldn't stand to watch, but he did, because he hadn't a choice.

Voldemort, however, seemed to find it entertaining.

He wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight. He rolled off the bed was thankful for the silencing charm as he hit the floor with a thud. He lay in his awkward position for a moment, yawning. Apparently, he was really quite tired.

He grabbed a parchment and a quill form under his bed, where he left them in case this happened. He wrote a brief note to Dumbledore, with the small bit of useful information he had learned from… that vision.

A group of researchers had been kidnapped by Voldemort. Faced with torture, they were working for him. Hence the need to rescue them.

Harry didn't even bother with his cloak as he wearily moved through the corridors to Dumbledore's office. When he reached the Gargoyle, he slipped the paper into it's mouth.

The paper would end up on the Headmaster's desk, and he would see it in the morning. Harry had convinced him to do this so that he could get information from his visions to the man quickly but without having to wake him up. After a three night marathon of visions the Headmaster agreed.

The gargoyle jumped out of the way and Dumbledore appeared behind it, still wearing his earlier clothes. Harry blinked sleepily at him.

"How'd you know I was here?"

A gray eyebrow arched upwards, "You've been standing there for a while."

"Oh." He yawned.

Dumbledore looked at the sleepy teenager. "Come in; I'm not getting any sleep either."

He followed Dumbledore past the portrait of Merlin and into the room, heading immediately to the warm of the fire. While Dumbledore summoned tea Harry noticed a book lying on the coffee table. "What's that?"

"A book of prophecies." At the look on Harry's face he continued, "I know, most of the time we can't figure out what they mean until it's happened, but I never give up hope."

************************************************************************

__

Harry was standing above the enchantments over the great hall. Time passed swiftly while he stood, watching, unseen. So many people came and left, their children, their grandchildren.

He wanted to be down there with them, but he was looked in his cupboard. So he watched, listening to Dudley whine shrilly about something upstairs.

Now his parents and their friends were in the great hall, being sorted.

Something made him look up and saw himself, just watching him. It occurred to him that he was dreaming, and he said, "Weird."

"Indeed."

"Why am I dreaming of myself?"

"That's a good question. No doubt you will find out soon enough."

He felt a connection to the man and was briefly flooded with images, thoughts. The scene around him dissolved as he was overwhelmed. He looked in confusion a the man.

"You need to work on controlling that –but you will. In any case, it is time for me to wake up."

Then he was gone, and Harry found himself playing Quidditch with all his family and friends, even the Dursleys. He didn't think it odd that they were there, even though they couldn't fly, nor that Hermione was there though she hated flying; He was dreaming

************************************************************************

Harry woke up early the next morning with a start, his scar burning, and a frown of confusion on his face. 

His mind turned to other matters when he realized that he wasn't in his dorm. A slight feeling of panic for a moment –then he realized that he was on a couch. Last night drifted back to him. He and the headmaster had talked awhile before, apparently, he fell asleep.

He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and stood up.

He looked around but saw no sign of the Headmaster, so he let himself out, walking down the corridor in wrinkled robes and hair sticking out in every possible direction.

As he left the Gargoyle behind he remembered the reason he was confused when he woke up earlier. He did vaguely remember dreaming something strange. Himself. He could swear that he had the impression of himself, but it was more than himself –there was more to him. Like he was –older.

"Strange."

He didn't really bother thinking too much about it though, as he realized he would miss breakfast unless he got moving. He'd be missing breakfast if he didn't eat it later –they had Quidditch practice afterwards. Ron had given into the pleading of the team and scheduled practices on the weekends for later.

************************************************************************

Alrighty, I'll show you what the older Harry is up to in the next chapter. 


	10. 9: Having fun?

He was in the middle of the war again. Not he was ever truly was able to leave war behind; Not after it had dominated his life for so long.

He was using muggle weapons again. Somehow it gave him minute satisfaction to watch Death Eaters be destroyed by 'inferior' devices. 

Their bigotry was their downfall.

Muggle bombs didn't set off there protection wards; And he knew how to slip past them, avoiding the nastier ones that would have any number of 'unpleasant' effects upon intruders.

He watched the timer in his hand, as bright numbers flitted across it. '5, 4, 3, 2, 1.' Explosions ripped through the night. Fire flared in the dark; Sound ripped through the night.

He waited at the main entrance. Naturally, with the building is on fire, you run for the nearest and largest exit. He played this game to well -though truly that was discordant comparison. 

He stood by the entrance to what was seemingly just a cave, and eyed the black figures pouring out. Most ran out without looking back, not caring for anyone's safety but their own.

A least a dozen of them were in sight now, the farthest a good twenty feet away and still moving, still well within then apparition barrier.

All at once, a force bowled most of them over, sending them flying back towards him. Sprawled on the ground, it wasn't especially difficult to curse most of them before they realized what was happening. 

And he was not shy about using the killing curse.

He would leave some alive if possible for the Order to find, to get information from; His main priority, though, was to take them down. He knew full well the idealism that would have stayed most others, and agreed with them. He also accepted the other side of life, that imbued all cynics with sarcasm.

He winced in sympathy as one of them, running heedlessly through the illusionary cave entrance, tripped over a body. _Ouch._ She'd be unconscious for a while, having hit the towering rockface the ringed the mountain.

More Death Eaters were streaming out; This was one of the larger bases, yet least defended, which is why he had chosen to attack it. One of the Death Eaters on the ground was shouting for them to 'get him.' _Good luck with that._

He used simple dodge, duck, and run tactics for a while, always moving, always cursing. The ground below was mostly dirt and rock, twigs and stones littering it. 

Currently he was about ten feet from the entrance. One nasty spell _did_ manage to hit him, but lucky for him that it didn't damage him physically. Sure, it felt like the entire left side of his torso had been shredded –skin, flesh, bone, organs and all –but he could grit his teeth and move on.

That brief moment, however, was all it took to leave him disarmed –there were more Death Eaters than he had counted on. Must have been a meeting. Joy.

He had more tricks up his sleeve, however. He started off running in a random direction, using all his speed to keep ahead of the curses. He closed he eyes for a brief moment, needing to concentrate, hoping that he would not stumble.

That would be very inconvenient.

Suddenly, he was not there. Or rather, they could not see him. They all frantically shot curses at where he had been, figuring out that he was now invisible.

Didn't do them any good. He crouched and used his free moment to summon Gryffindor's sword. He started towards the nearest Death Eater.

Some of them would already be fleeing if they didn't know what Voldemort's wrath was like.

As they saw comrades go down spurting blood they shot curses and hexes at where he should be. Thanks to his many hours exercising, he avoided all of them, and they only succeeding in hitting nothing or each other.

Now they did flee. _See ya later._

It wouldn't be so easy much longer –in fact, he expected it to be much harder next time. He was milking his anonymity for all it was worth. 

He'd plan later though. Now, if he remembered correctly, this was also one of Voldemort's mini-prisons. He had people to rescue; Information to find.

And sooner or later, he might see his friends again.


	11. 10: Masquerade

Well, I'm in a good mood so I'm adding another chapter four days early.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
The masquerade/costume ball had been Haley Jarvin's idea. She'd brought it up at the prefects meeting as a way to get the Beauxbatons students involved more in the school. So he and Hermione asked the teachers, and they agreed.  
  
Well, Snape had muttered something about stupid things like it being more appropriate for Halloween -but Dumbledore liked the idea.  
  
The Headmaster announced it to the school: Only fourth years and up, costumes could be anything from a famous person to an animal, and it started and eight.  
  
He didn't really want to go, but Ariana asked him to take her, "I don't want to bother finding someone, and besides, your one of the best catches in the school."  
  
"Well, when you put it that way-" He knew she, Hermione, and Ron would just bug him until he agreed anyway. They noticed that he didn't give himself much rest anymore. Always exercising, doing homework, playing Quidditch, or doing his Head Boy duties.  
  
So, at seven, he found himself in the Lightning common room. "Harry, you haven't picked out a costume yet!?" Brian looked at him, shaking his head.  
  
"Well, no."  
  
It was no big surprise that they guys were in the common room waiting on the girls. Ron had chosen to be Godric Gryffindor -Hermione's idea -which worked well, as Gryffindor had had red hair too.  
  
Brian just wore silver robes and a silver mask. "Simplicity is the best."  
  
Harry was currently pacing around, deciding whether or not to go with a costume or just a mask. "Well -oh I've got it!"  
  
He ran off and knocked on Hermione's door; The Head Girl had her own room. He could have had his own room, but decided to stay in the dorms. He heard Hermione's voice come through the wooden door, "What?"  
  
"I need your help!"  
  
She opened the door and he said, "Going as Rowena?" She took off her mask and nodded.  
  
"Yep, now what do you need?"  
  
"I want to transfigure my glasses to look like Dumbledore's, but I need the prescription to stay the same."  
  
"Hmm." She took the glasses and peered at them intently, deciding what to do. Minutes later a smile graced her face and his glasses were an exact replica of Dumbledore's.  
  
He caste spells on his way back to the common room, and when he got back, the reaction was entertaining. Ron was in the middle of a dirty joke when he saw Harry.  
  
He gasped and started to turn red, "Sir! I- that was not what it sounded li- Harry!" He had finally noticed the scar. He exhaled and slumped, "Don't do that!"  
  
Harry answered with laughter, and he wasn't the only one. "Nice idea though -you don't even really need a mask," said one of the boys.  
  
They all shut up as the girls arrived. Ariana looked positively, well, feline. She had an elegant mask on that covered most of her face. "Yes, I know," she said at his look, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Hermione arrived after a couple of minutes, after most of the couples were starting to leave.  
  
Ron looked at her. Ron turned red.  
  
Hermione smirked. Harry smirked.  
  
Hermione moved forward and kissed Ron, causing Harry to grin. They may be quite different personality wise but they really we perfect for each other.  
  
Ariana tugged at his arm, "Come on, they'll catch up -eventually."  
  
This prompted a quick laugh from Harry.  
  
When they got to the Great Hall they took a seat. Harry waved at Fluer, who was at the teachers table -she was a teacher of the French students. He could easily tell it was her, because, well, it was her.  
  
"It looks like the French students are having fun."  
  
"Good -that was the whole reason for this."  
  
Dumbledore stood up and welcomed them all. "Let the dancing begin!"  
  
"Thank god you actually taught me how to do that last year," said Harry.  
  
"Well, let's show off those skills," she grinned.  
  
"How could I refuse such a beauty?"  
  
"Now I remember why I dated you."  
  
"Ah yes, my wonderful charm."  
  
She laughed softly, "I recall some shyness, especially, ahem, considering how we first started going out."  
  
He turned a little red remembering. Lets just saw that at the beginning of the year there was a party, with much alcohol. He woke up the next day and, well, Ariana was there.  
  
She laughed at him. "I wonder how long before you'll stop turning red when I mention that?"  
  
"Moving on-" he started, intending to deflect her.  
  
"-I think I see a group of girls waiting to pounce on you."  
  
"Why does this song have to end."  
  
"You'll be fine. Meet me back at our table." With that she walked off and he turned around. How had they all even figured out who he was so quickly? Oh, right. Damned scar.  
  
Several dances later he was led by Fluer to where the teachers we sitting, and decided to take a moment to relax. He ended up in close proximity to both Snape and Dumbledore. Dumbledore was resplendent in gold, head to foot; The effect was quite regal. Snape, looked like Snape. No mask or anything -it was probably a miracle he was even here.  
  
Snape eyed Harry and snarled, "Audacious, don't you think? Even for you Potter."  
  
Harry raised an eyebrow, "What didn't you know, Imitation is the highest form of flattery."  
  
"Humph. Upstart children." Apparently he hated being here so much he wasn't even going to bother arguing. Quite disturbing.  
  
Harry glanced at Dumbledore and he winked at him before turning back to his conversation with one of the Beauxbatons teachers -in French, I might add.  
  
He got up to find his friends but was waylaid by his Martial Arts teacher for a dance. "Got to put those muscles to good use," she said, grinning as a blushed. What was it with women determined to make me blush?  
  
He was looking around for Ron and Hermione when he felt a spike of pain in his scar. 


	12. 11: Darkness behind the light

He stiffened and resisted the urge to put his hand on his forehead. He stared out into the crowd, unseeing, assessing the pain; He sighed in relief. No, Voldemort was not right outside the school.

He did, however need to get out of here. He quickly strode out the hall.

He made it outside before it hit him. Into the dark.

The pain in his scar sharpened so fast he dropped to his knees. The grass in front of him dissolved.

__

He could see Voldemort. Flat face, red eyes. 

He felt the disgust rise in him, as it did every time now. The horror, because he knew what Voldemort was capable of. The anger, after all the bastard had hurt or killed far too many people. And lastly, sadness. Not only for the former, but also because he knew the reasons that Voldemort had become so twisted. It could far to easily happen again in this cruel world.

"A matter of time Potter, before you'll wish you never had that scar." Harry's attention snapped back the ghastly figure –he had been studying their surroundings intently.

Did Voldemort know about the scar; The visions? Or was it simply Voldemort planning more revenge for Harry's being alive?

When he grew aware of his surroundings again, he found himself still on his hands and knees. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think about what he just witnessed.

For several moments he only sound was that of crickets.

"Mr. Potter!" came the alarmed voice of Professor McGonagall somewhere behind him, shattering the silence.

"Professor," he said weakly as she helped him up.

"What happened?" the concern on her face was evident. He was surprised that she didn't scold him was being off by himself.

He shook his head. "A vision." In response to her frown he added, "I know it's rarely happened in the daytime before, but it wasn't any different then the rest. I'll be fine."

She hesitated, perhaps thinking of ordering him to the infirmary. Then she nodded and swept back into the castle. He looked after her in surprise –but then, he _was_ graduating soon. Weird thought.

He walked around for a bit, and found himself standing not far away from Hagrid's familiar old cabin, just watching it. Remembering. He been inside so many times visiting Hagrid with his friends.

No one lived there anymore. He closed his eyes and his face twisted into a grimace.

He still remembered the offer Voldemort had given him. The intimation that if Harry were to join him, then his friends would be safe. He had been so very tempted in that dark time of his life.

But that was not an option, for so many reasons. Especially not to save his friends, which would be the only reason he would actually work for that *thing.*

"You know that you are supposed to be having fun today." He turned to see Brian at his side; Harry hadn't even noticed him arrive.

"Yeah."

"I understand you know." Harry remembered what Brian was like fifth year, when he first came to Hogwarts. After his brother died.

He looked at Brian and said, "Lets go back in."

He followed Brian back to the Great Hall, back into the bright festivities. They found where Ron and Hermione sitting and joined them. 

"Where have you been?" asked Ron.

He shrugged and made a dismissive noise He 

"Articulate, aren't you?"

"Mmhum."

Brian deflected Ron by asking something, starting a conversation. 

Harry's eyes roomed around the room. The room was, of course, decorated. The prefects had had to do it too- was harder than you'd think. Especially when it came to conflicting opinions. Harry shuddered.

Ariana was off dancing somewhere. He noted a few teachers dancing.

The night wore on. 

He had to deflect Parvati away at one point. She seemed to think that because she was a fellow Gryffindor (though not a Lightning), and in his year, she had the right to date him. 

After a very brief stint as her boyfriend he'd started to notice the look she got whenever he would get recognition of some kind. He was trying to be nice.

"Ron wanted to discuss something."

"But Harry, just one more dance for me?" She was simpering for god's sake.

"Sorry, muscle cramp…" He really wasn't in the mood to bother with her.

"Maybe we should go for a walk to loosen it…" 

"No thanks."

"I'm sure you won't mind a little company then-" She giggled. He tried to smile in response, but it came out as a grimace.

"Actually-

"Hi Harry," he heard a soft voice greet from his left.

He gave a true smile to the red head, who seemed not to notice Parvati's put off look. "Hi Ginny." Before she could add anything, he said, "Oh, right, I owe you a dance, don't I?"

He didn't, actually. Ginny glanced at Parvati and got the point. "Right, and since I'm getting tired, you'd better pay up now."

He breathed a sigh of relief as they left Parvati behind. "Now I really owe you." 

"And you had better make good on it next time you hear my brothers planning to play a prank on me."

He grinned, remembering her yelling at her brothers last time he was at the Burrow. They had muttered about her becoming their mother for the rest of the week. 

He'd been glad when she was one of the students picked for the Lightning program.

Around twelve they voted on the student's costumes. Most visually/interesting/weird, Most complicated/cool, Most well thought out (In other words, Actually Has a Story or Intellectual Reason For Wearing the Costume). And Most outrageous/surprising. Harry actually won that one –for once Snape seems to have been right.

Even later in the morning students slowly trickled into the common room and up to their dorms. Ron captured Harry's feelings precisely with, "Sleep. Blissful sleep."

************************************************************************

Nothing too dramatic I'm afraid. Yet.

If this is late, it's because I'm having trouble with FF.net


	13. 12: Animagii

Harry and Hermione found the room there were looking for and went inside. It was relatively large, but had almost nothing in it; Several dozen chairs facing a desk.  
  
They had found a note posted in the common room several days earlier:  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
All Lightning students in their seventh year who wish to be tested for Animagus ability, report to the old Defense room (older students will know where).  
  
If you test positive and have the aptitude may join an extra class every Saturday at three o'clock.  
  
Note -you won't become an Animagus within the next few months; You will have to continue your training on your own time after you graduate.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ugh, more classes," was Ron's reaction. They all knew full well that they were going to try and join. And, unfortunately, the likelihood that they would learn to become Animagii in the next few months was, well, nil.  
  
They sat down each on one side of Ron, who was already there in the front row. All three of them had thought about becoming Animagii. Now they would find out if they could.  
  
McGonagall and Remus were there, and Harry flashed a smile at Remus. "I hope Remus gets to teach the class."  
  
"That would be great," said Ron.  
  
"I'm just dying to know what we could become," added Hermione.  
  
McGonagall began speaking, "The primary focus of this class is to find out what you could become. I seriously doubt we will get much farther than that. Professor Lupin and I are going to switch off every weekend.  
  
Remus took his turn, "This is going to involve a lot of research and introspection. You have to figure out what you can become on your own, and some of you are not going to find it easy."  
  
McGonagall, "Decide today whether or not you are coming next week, because I have no intention of accepting late comers." She caste a stern glance at the crowd.  
  
Remus held up a circular blue crystal disk. "These are inductive soul crystals; They will help us determine if you might become an animagus. Keep in mind it's not a guarantee that you can become one."  
  
McGonagall was holding another one in her own hand. "Everyone line up in front of either me or professor Lupin. Those who have the possibility of becoming an animagus will sit back down, the rest will have to leave. And be careful -these aren't exactly easy to find.  
  
As they lined up, Harry ended up near the end of Remus' line, who added, "You may feel a bit weird afterwards."  
  
When it was Harry's turn he held out his right hand and Remus put the crystal on it. "Don't be so nervous," he told Harry, knowing full well that a main reason he wanted to be an animagus was the marauders. He pointed his wand at the stone and said something. It started to glow brightly.  
  
It also heated up, which made Harry wince, but he did not drop it. A wave of tingling swept over his skin, and for an instant he felt like his body was liquid. Then a wave of dizziness hit him.  
  
Remus grabbed his arm to steady him, a slight frown showing. Then with an eyebrow raised, he said, "Well I guess you can sit back down." Harry just nodded, his hand still tingling.  
  
He turned around and grinned broadly. The population of the room had decreased by more than half, but both Ron and Hermione were still there.  
  
Ron looked at him sideways "What happened?"  
  
"How should I know?" He replied.  
  
Hermione raised her hand, noticing that the professors had finished with the last students. "What did the soul crystals do exactly?"  
  
Professor McGonagall answered, "The soul crystals determine if you can be an animagus mainly by determining how much magic you posses. There's more to it, however- character also plays a part. You need strong characteristics if you hope to find a match in another creature."  
  
Remus added as they were leaving, "Some of you might end up dropping out, which is not unsurprising, but you can't change your mind and come back."  
  
As soon as they were out of the classroom Ron began analyzing their chances tomorrow. The last Quidditch match. He was so obsessed with winning that they were having a team meeting now to 'go over everything.'  
  
By the time they got to the common room Ron had moved on to Slytherin's latest infraction: booking a practice today and thus ruining Gryffindors opportunity to practice for the third day in a row.  
  
Sometimes he wondered just how fanatical Ron could be. Though, granted, there was probably added aggression due to a certain incident yesterday. A group had tried to corner Harry and beat him up; The plan had completely failed, as Harry and Hermione beat *them* up, but still.  
  
Some of the extra classes were coming in handy.  
  
The two walked over to where the rest of the team was sitting, and Hermione split for her room. Harry sat down beside Ginny as Ron started speaking. 


	14. 13: As planned?

As soon as Harry reached the common room he asked, "You guys ready?" He was dressed in black muggle cloths underneath his robes, as were the rest. He also, like the rest, had an amulet in the shape of a phoenix on a chain around his neck. They were, of course, out of sight, safely tucked underneath their shirts.  
  
"Right," said Ron. He was, like Harry, carrying a broom  
  
"As can be," added Brian. It had been a while since they had actually participated in a mission.  
  
Hermione said nothing.  
  
Being students, they didn't get to take on much of an active role, and instead concentrated on school.  
  
Now, several weeks before graduation, they were getting ready for a reconnaissance mission of sorts. It had been deemed safe enough for them, and they were available. Most other Order members were busy at the moment.  
  
Snape had informed Dumbledore at the last meeting that Voldemort was gathering support in Norway, making some sort of deal with a group there.  
  
They already had at least one small encampment there, and the Norwegian government (the magical one) was not listening the their warnings. The Order decided on a preemptive strike.  
  
They would, hopefully, also gain proof. The Aurors main job was to fight -the Order's was to gain information. When, where, who, and above all, how to stop Voldemort.  
  
Luckily for Snape, the information hadn't been given to Snape directly, but rather through one of *his* spies. He was forced to tread delicately these days -Harry didn't know how the man could stand the tension.  
  
Harry led the slightly apprehensive group through the dark school corridors to where the others were waiting. Catching sight of the others in the room he smiled at Sirius and Remus, moving to their side.  
  
Arabella spoke up, "You all ready? Then lets move." Harry had learned that she wasn't much for idle chitchat, or wasting time; Although she had indulged him with a few stories of his parents. "I've set your portkeys -they'll switch back as soon as you use them."  
  
The portkeys- their amulets. Each was keyed to their owner, so no one else could use them. Normally they were all set to an Order safe house.  
  
Harry grabbed onto his and felt the familiar lurch. His eyes moved around a bit fast at first, surveying his surroundings; He was still a bit unnerved by portkeys.  
  
They were in Norway now, outside a manor.  
  
From now on they communicated through prearranged signals. They didn't want to use spells to communicate, not knowing if the 'enemy' had a way detect that sort of thing.  
  
They all moved in silence.  
  
Arabella, Sirius, Brian, and Maya were going to go inside and see what information they could find. They all quickly drunk their invisibility potions, which hadn't been easy to come by; They had an hour before it wore off.  
  
Hermione and Mundungus would wait here.  
  
Harry and Ron mounted their brooms and took off flying low, keeping watch.  
  
Minutes ticked by, while they listened to every sound. Watched every shadow.  
  
About a half hour after they had arrived, Ron hit Harry on the shoulder to draw his attention. Someone had just apparated to the front of the manor, and was currently walking towards the entrance.  
  
He caught sight of blond hair. He felt a cold disquiet sweep over him; Beside him Ron tensed with hatred.  
  
Why would Lucius Malfoy be here? -But of course, he was a Death Eater. After his failure last year due to the trio, and he and his son had disappeared, some had assumed that Voldemort had killed him. Apparently not.  
  
Harry watched Malfoy disappear through the entrance.  
  
More waiting. Watching.  
  
Harry was beginning to get anxious. He checked his watch and swallowed. The potion should be wearing off about now.  
  
He looked at Ron, who looked back. Ron had seen him look at his watch.  
  
Harry's seeker reflexes caught something at the edge of his vision, and he head snapped sideways. It had been a flash of light.  
  
He knew Ron was alerted to his change demeanor, and his friend's eyes followed his to the window he was watching. It was now dark; Nothing could be seen.  
  
Then the window shattered. The shards burst outwards and a dark object followed them, being hurled rapidly downwards by gravity.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Author notes updated 


	15. 14: Not as planned

Then the window shattered. 

The shards burst outwards in a burst of reflecting shards of light.

A dark object followed them down, pulled rapidly to the earth by gravity.

Harry shot off after it, and Ron followed after a moment of shock.

Harry got there first -Ron heard Harry grunt at the impact of the person. He winced as he watched his friend get thrown off his broom and slammed into the ground. Harry's broom hit the side of the house, making a dent, then fell after them.

Ron was indecisive for a moment. Go after Harry or check out what was happening above?

Despite his fierce loyalty he knew that Harry would probably be alright, whereas the rest might need help. He'd_ better _be all right. Ron flew upwards, and sucked in a breath at what he saw through the window.

Inside, was a large, dark room in which Sirius, Arabella, and Maya were exchanging spells with a group of men. Their spells created brief flashes of colored light, illuminating the room. He called out to Sirius to let him know that he was there, and received a glance in confirmation. A half a second later he had to duck a curse, causing him to fly downwards out of sight.

He flew back up, with Harry joining him -somehow having recovered his broom. They could see curses and hexes flying between the two groups as each jockeyed for the upper hand. This was _not_ going as planned. Ron's mind turned with each second as he speculated. His team had good cover -but they could not stay there indefinitely.

Harry flew inside and made a pass over the assailants, startling them; He was recklessly fast considering the small confines. Ron winced and considered falling; Unfortunately, that would probably end badly.

Arabella, Sirius and Maya seized the opportunity and ran for the window, leaving their makeshift cover.

One of the men cast a killing curse that struck home. In a flash of green light, Arabella fell. Her wand and the other two she was holding rolled away from her. Ron was stunned, disbelieving.

The blond who had caste the spell grabbed the small box that had flown out her arms. He passed it to another with words that Ron could not hear, and the other man ran out of the room.

The other two had reached the window, and Maya jumped onto Ron's broom behind him; He could heard her moan with pain from a wound on her shoulder. Sirius cried out and ran back to Arabella.

Ron saw Sirius was hit with a curse, slumping to the floor. "Avad–" started Malfoy. Harry shot a spell at Malfoy, and Ron his own curse. The light from the curses shimmered around the blond and faded.

The redhead gasped, horrified. 

Malfoy paused, smirking. "Finally realizing that you are on the losing side?" A Malfoy would pause to gloat. Bastard.

"Avada Ke-" This time Malfoy was cut off by another killing curse, said so fast it was nearly incomprehensible.

It had been Harry. Who was now stumbling towards his godfather, using his broom to help him.

Maya, while still in pain, continued to fire off curses, and Ron followed suit. Despite their distraction Harry was hit with the cruciatus while grabbing onto Sirius.

Ron felt such an anger at his friend's screams that, without thinking, he sent a spell at the caster. The figure screamed as he erupted in flames.

Soon Harry was flying out of the window, with an unconscious Sirius in front of him.

They flew to where Hermione and Mundungus were waiting. Brian was leaning against Mundungus, unable to stand on his own; That's when Ron realized that he must have been the person flying out the window.

Ron and Maya landed somewhat clumsily; Harry all but collapsed off his broom, along with Sirius. Mundungus took measure of the group and asked in a grim tone, "Where is Arabella?"

Maya shook her head.

"Damn," the light brown haired man cursed with feeling.

They heard a shout and spun to see a man yelling to a group.

"We need to go," he added. He clutched Brian as he grabbed his portkey.

Ron made saw Harry portkey away with Sirius. He made sure that Hermione had left as well before he grabbed his own amulet. The world shifted.


	16. 15: Sad Tidings

As the seven appeared in the large room, Remus, who had been waiting, moved to help them all into various chairs.  
  
As Harry collapsed into a particularly cushy chair, ignoring the pain, he heard Remus ask, "Where is Arabella?"  
  
His godfather, who had regained consciousness, answered. "She's gone Moony."  
  
Remus closed his eyes. When he opened them he moved to the fire to summon Dumbledore. "They are back, Albus. Arabella- I think you should come."  
  
Harry watched Remus leave the room and come back with various healing potions they had in stock here. He himself was the recipient of numbing and pepper up potions, as well as several more.  
  
Hermione moved to help Remus, giving Ron a quick hug before she moved to examine Harry's leg. "It's broken."  
  
As Hermione was binding his leg Dumbledore stepped out of the fire. He looked around and noted the Arabella wasn't with them. "Arabella?"  
  
It was Maya who answered. "Killing curse."  
  
Harry watched Dumbledore sit down, sorrow lining the old man's face. Harry knew that it couldn't be easy having to do all that he had to, to think of everything. The headmaster visibly pushed his grief away. "The rest of you?"  
  
Remus handed Mundungus a potion and answered. "Sirius, Brian, and Maya have all been cursed. Harry seems to have the worst of it."  
  
Brian, who was still not entirely awake, asked, "Didn't I fall out a window?"  
  
Ron grinned, "Well, Harry here saw the need to dive under you and get smashed into the ground with you."  
  
Harry gave a weak smile.  
  
"Why don't you all tell me what happened?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
Maya gave an account of what had happened inside. They found documents and letters indicating who the contacts were -also a sheet of names and addresses from the Norwegian wizarding government, and another of prominent witches and wizards. Presumably hit lists.  
  
They had been leaving when they'd seen Malfoy. They knew he was an important Death Eater and had to be there for something important. So they followed him.  
  
Turned out that he was there to pick up something important for his master "We don't know what it was, he just said it was going to be 'extremely useful.'" So they had tried to steal it. Arabella had been holding onto it when their potions had worn off; The fight had ensued and she was killed.  
  
Here harry spoke up, "McNair took off with it."  
  
Maya looked at him curiously, "How'd you know it was him -it was so dark that even I couldn't see."  
  
"I'm -more familiar with all the Death Eaters now." Most of them knew what he meant.  
  
"What do mean?" asked Mundungus, not understanding.  
  
He answered tiredly "You know I have visions of what Voldemort is doing. Well, I also get to see what some Death Eaters are doing sometimes -he puts part of himself into the Dark Mark."  
  
"Oh," breathed Maya.  
  
Ron kicked in with what they had seen. As he described what happened with Malfoy, the shielding he had, Dumbledore and Remus grew alarmed.  
  
"Arthur needs to know this as soon as possible."  
  
"Everyone does -this is bad."  
  
Sirius asked, "How am I still alive then?"  
  
There was a silence in which Maya and Ron looked and Harry. He sat up a bit. "The killing curse got past the shield."  
  
Eyes widened. Hermione said, "Harry-"  
  
"I wasn't going to loose my godfather!" he pronounced vehemently. Losing Sirius was *not* an option.  
  
"I understand Harry." Said Dumbledore, looking ancient. "In any case, the Ministry was on the brink of authorizing the killing curse against Death Eaters. With these new shields, it will probably be announced in the papers tomorrow."  
  
The group was silent.  
  
"I will ask Snape inquire as to what was in that box." He got up and moved to Sirius, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I will miss her too."  
  
Sirius nodded and stood. "Harry, can you get up?" He asked the dark aired boy, who was now slumped into cushions of his chair.  
  
"Probably not."  
  
Ron looked at him apprehensively, "He was hit with the Cruciatus."  
  
Sirius went over to him to help Harry up, then exclaimed, "Harry!" There was a small knife embedded in his side, red seeping out from it.  
  
Remus crossed the room to them, helping to keep Harry upright as Dumbledore looked at the knife.  
  
"Albus?"  
  
The headmaster looked up sharply, "It's poisoned. We need to get him to Hogwarts."  
  
Harry heard something else said, but he couldn't distinguish the voice.  
  
He had the impression of flames before he lost consciousness.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Hmm. I was intending to focus on the younger Harry in this story -do you think I should change that? 


	17. 16: Tired

You are all lucky -or rather, I am lucky- that I'm getting so much encouragement form Darth Flint…

Anyways, graduation is coming up in a chapter or two…

********************************************************************

__

In this dream he was sitting in a chair beside a fire. Across from him was himself. The other him.

They watched each other. 

The older Harry knew full well that this was more than a dream, but the younger did not know. "Found me again did you?"

The older watched the younger frown. He couldn't understand how he could feel so awake when he was dreaming. The younger didn't respond to his question, only asked, "So what are you supposed to represent?"

"Hmm. How about your future?"

"So I actually have one then?"

"I'm afraid so."

The younger man sighed, "I want this war to be over."

The other's eyes hardened, "I don't know that war is ever over."

They both paused and turned to the fire; It had turned green. Dumbledore came out of the fire. He looked between them and raised an eyebrow.

The Harry that looked a bit older responded to his unspoken question, "Just a dream."

Then each was thrown back into their own world of dreams.

************************************************************************

Harry woke up in the hospital wing. Sadly, his first thought was that he'd never manage to stay out of here. 

They had a new doctor to help Madame Pomfrey, a relatively friendly woman despite her professional air. When he's gotten sick near the beginning of the she doctor had made him stay for *days.*

They also had a French doctor, but he'd rarely seen the man. He mostly stuck to the French students.

He reached his arm out and grabbed for his glasses, not even looking. He shoved them on his face as he sat up and looked around.

Maya was across from him, sleeping.

Beside him sat Sirius, looking weary and worn. Harry watched him, feeling his own sorrow. Arabella had gone to school with the Marauders, just a year ahead. They'd been friends.

He breathed a shuddering breath and fell back onto the bed.

************************************************************************

"Are you well enough to leave?" Dumbledore asked him days later.

Harry brightened, "Absolutely."

Dumbledore smiled at him, "Then you might want to take advantage of the fact that I'm here." He moved away and shut the curtains for him.

Harry grinned and jumped off the bed to get dressed. Dumbledore was a useful means of getting himself out of the hospital wing –they could only argue so much before giving in to him.

He stuffed all his get well gifts into a bag and walked out of the hospital wing with the Headmaster.

He wanted to be with his friends right now. He also had a lot of work to catch up on -sometimes it was strange to be in school, in the middle of a war.

He didn't want to voice any depressing thoughts to Dumbledore right now -he didn't need that. "God, I need to study."

Dumbledore looked amused, and Harry had to smile too. He added in his defense, "Well, NEWTs *are* in a week. It's a special circumstance."

The man chuckled and said, "Then I'll leave you to find your friends. I'm sure Mr. Weasley is in a panic due to the same subject about now."

After the other man left him alone he went to the dorms, and stashed his stuff and grabbed his books. Then he headed for the place he knew his friends would be; The library. 

He saw Ron, Hermione, and Ari sitting around a table filled with books.

Ron's voice was slightly louder than it needed to be, "When did we learn all that!?"

Harry smirked as Hermione replied, "While you were sleeping in class!"

Ari noticed him first, "Harry! It's a good thing you recovered from the flu, or you wouldn't have much time for studying. Even Ron's panicking already."

"Your right about that," he said and dumped an armful of books on the table.


	18. 17: Who Indeed

He was sitting with his elbows on the table in front of him, his head resting on his hands. He tried to stifle a yawn as Fairlyan Ayre spoke "-the Dark Force Defense league is fighting something in the Netherlands, and they aren't all that large in the first place, so-"

"-see if Percy Weasley would be willing to contact them."

To be honest Harry was a little too tired to remember everything they had just discussed. He wasn't the only one either –Ron, Hermione, and Brian all looked like they had been beaten up too.

"I'll mention it to him," said Arthur. Percy was now the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. He and the rest of the Weasleys had experienced some friction, as Percy felt left out. He had been the only Weasley who hadn't known about Sirius' innocence beforehand, for instance. "-Bagman is fighting the idea of canceling any Quidditch matches in England-"

And they had. By all their teachers. In other words, they had just finished their NEWTS. 

Days of grueling torture. "-prime targets-"

There was not enough lighting in here. One could just let the sound of voices wash over one's mind and let one's eyelids lower. Let one's head sink against one's hand, and ajust oneself so that the hand was supporting the aforementioned head-

Dumbledore asked Snape a question that caught his attention; He blinked and raised his head, sitting straighter. Snape answered, "Whatever it was, it was important. I've also found out that it originally came from somewhere in Asia." Harry realized something -he was speaking of whatever was in the box that Arabella died for.

No one else had anything to add, so Dominick said, "Before we go –I think Dashmere was saved by the same person who might be responsible for attacking that stronghold in Canada. Has anyone else heard of him?"

"-No, eyewitness accounts don't correlate, on major differences."

"I think it's a little coincidental that several new 'heroes' should suddenly appear."

"What, you think someone is running around changing his appearance all the time?"

"Yes, making sure he rarely looks the same –glamour and concealing charms, transfiguration."

"Transfiguring your face without screwing it up isn't exactly easy."

"But possible -if such a man exists, he _would_ be powerful, from the accounts I've heard."

"Yes, but skill, man, skill."

"I'm suspicious of anyone that had something to hide." This, of course, came from Moody.

"I agree with that."

Snape said, "Someone _has_ been attacking Death Eaters when they've been roaming around England looking for muggles to torture. They've had to start watching themselves."

Arthur said, "You know the ministry sends teams out to try and track them down after the find the –evidence of their attacks; Even though we don't have many to spare for the job. Most of the time we just get to clean up their messes. Lately, there has been evidence that some of them have themselves been attacked."

"He finds them and leaves before the ministry detects the activity."

Bill asked, "You really think it's the same guy?"

"A mystery."

"Well, he _has_ been beating up Death Eaters." To some people, that was what was important. Either you were with or against. Harry wanted to shake his head; That's just not the way the world was. Even he knew that, regardless of having a clear 'enemy.'

Dumbledore said, "I propose that we find him and see if he might be a viable ally of the Order."

"That's not going to be easy."

Harry's attention had been caught by a detail of the puzzle. He looked at Snape and asked, "How does he find the Death Eaters?"

Everyone looked at each other.

"A good question. Any ideas?"

A few ventured a theory or two, some more plausible than others.

"As to finding him-" Dumbledore looked around, "Alaster, Remus?" –they nodded. "Then I think some of us need to sleep," eyeing the four former seventh years.

************************************************************************

He scowled at the fire. The Order had decided to try and figure him out. He noticed –he hadn't gotten to be his age without being careful.

He shook his head. Remus –so long since he'd thought of him –had started to subtly research into who he might be. No doubt they had people in both the ministry and with Voldemort looking for information on him.

He could go to the Order, but it would take to much effort to hide who he was. After his fourth year, Polyjuice potion wasn't going to trick them. Lupin would catch his scent –he'd also notice the absence or masking of it. Moody would see through all but the most complex charms. Dumbledore would sense how powerful he was as soon as he saw him.

He could go as himself. But then if they decided that he was a trick, he'd have to fight them _and_ Voldemort. Besides, they already had a Harry.

They might try to force him back through time. No way. Things were already changed –it wouldn't be his world anymore. He had chosen his course already.

So, he'd avoid them as long as possible.

It would save him a lot of problems. He tired of playing Count The Dead years ago –he didn't need to dredge up memories.

He sighed, and moved into the kitchen. He rummaged around in the drawer beside the sink until he found what he was looking for. Lemon drops.

As it was, he'd tried not to come into contact with the wizarding world much. Only when he needed to -to get supplies. It would have been easier to buy some of the potions he made himself –but since it didn't take too much time, he did it rather than risk anything.

However, certain things needed to be accomplished, and the tasks kept him busy. He had established several new identities, each designed for a purpose. Needless to say he kept busy.

He did find himself looking forward to seeing his childhood friends again though. He had little doubt that it would happen eventually.

He got up and walking to his pensieve. He paused, looking at it; Then he walked away, and sat back down by the fire.

He brushed some hair from his face, his hand passing over a scar that ran along his cheek.

He was aware of a slight tingling in another scar, the accursed famous one, that was the harbinger of a coming vision. No doubt some hours after he fell asleep he was going to be rudely awoken. 

He lay back into the deep blue chair his was residing in; He calmed himself and slipped into a light slumber.


	19. 18: Graduation

They stood proudly, all three, grinning at each other. They were in the midst of a huge crowd -students, parents, teachers, and even a reporter or two.  
  
They had just graduated.  
  
"I guess that's it then? We are adults."  
  
"No, Ron, that's just me and Hermione." He ducked a punch.  
  
Hermione didn't even bother to remonstrate them to behave.  
  
Tonight, they would party. The town was already forewarned about the horde of students about to descend. That graduating class in his fifth year hadn't been allowed to celebrate there -not safe enough. Now though, the town was much different -A wall around it attested to that. It was quite a bit larger too.  
  
Tomorrow, they would leave Hogwarts and Hogsmead behind. He didn't really want to leave, and to be honest he had no idea what he was going to do with himself. He was going to stay at the Weasley's for the time being and so was Ron. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were perfectly happy to let them stay -the times being what they were.  
  
Voldemort was beginning to escalate the war. Before, he had concentrated on getting allies, extending his reach, getting a hold of anything that could make him more powerful; Killing Harry, demoralizing him.  
  
Now, he was ready to move. The Dementors had left Azkaban just yesterday, though most of the prisoners were contained elsewhere now thanks to the fact that they had a competent minister now. This was a major blow -but expected.  
  
He'd enjoyed smirking at Voldemort that night. Granted, Voldemort couldn't see him do it, but it was still enjoyable.  
  
Voldemort was no longer *seemed* to be concentrating on Harry much, but he wasn't sure he felt better because of it.  
  
The worst was this: if Voldemort was beginning to set his plans in motion, then he had already achieved his main goal. Immortality; Or at least a limited version of it.  
  
Everyone had been talking about it all day -though now they were, understandably, putting it out of their minds.  
  
Fred and George called out to them as they passed by, "We'll see you there in an hour alright? We've got to prepare your surprise!"  
  
All three were momentarily filled with dread.  
  
Brian stopped by the three. Harry asked, "You going to be at Hogsmead?"  
  
"Of course -once again, I've got to show you English how to drink properly."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes and Ron looked queasy for a moment; No doubt he was remembering the same things Harry was. "I hope we survive the night."  
  
The crowd was starting to thin out a bit. Harry looked around to see who all was still there. Many of the other graduates were starting to trickle back into the castle, after being besieged by family and friends. Sirius hadn't been able to make it, but Remus had already stopped by the three to congratulate the three. Mrs. Weasley had just about killed her son through suffocation.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
He was in the middle of a city, in a rather bad neighborhood; Watching seemly abandoned building. It was a warm evening, and he was glad to be in muggle cloths.  
  
Dusk was rapidly darkening the sky when he noticed movement and shrunk back into the shadows. He could just will himself invisible, but there we ways to see past that.  
  
He gave no reaction when he recognized that the group of wizards that had just apparated at the corner of the building, at the edge of his eyesight, were in fact members of the Order.  
  
'Ah, hah.' So they must have found out the same thing he had -that Voldemort had hidden several powerful dark objects here. He knew that they wouldn't expect him to hide something in muggle city -he did despise them, after all.  
  
A couple of them mounted brooms and flew around the back of the building; three of them moved towards the door he was watching. One of them looked sharply in his direction and his breath caught, though he didn't move a muscle. 'Moody.'  
  
He blessed the shadows that concealed his face.  
  
He watched the man pause and whisper to his companions. He couldn't help but wonder if Sirius was one of them before he disapperated.  
  
He now stood inside he current hideout -he had several. This one was a small, plain blue house. The street it was on housed several magical families, as well as non-magical.  
  
He walked all of three steps before he felt his wards fighting off a locator spell. He couldn't help but smile. Moody was one fast bastard.  
  
He moved quickly about the house. He banished his important belonging to a different hideout, removed obvious clues as to who he was. Caste several choice spells to prevent him from being located.  
  
Within a half hour there was little trace of him.  
  
Within an hour he found himself sitting inside the Three Broomsticks. It was loud and bright inside. The celebratory air was palpable. Nearly every chair was filled, with students mostly.  
  
He was lucky to have found a seat. He was currently sharing a table with a couple -though they weren't exactly aware of it. They were somewhat occupied with each other.  
  
His gaze roamed around the establishment. He spotted a couple teachers, there to keep an eye on things. He saw himself, as well as his friends in the middle of a particularly large crowd.  
  
Several hours later he was still as watchful as before. His younger self had already been 'Visited' by two reporters. As well as several girls. He noted his younger self quickly detach from the table after three of them came over.  
  
He slowly got up and moved out the door. 


	20. 19: Back to the Party

Harry wandered around the shops for a bit, though at least half had already closed for the day. He *was* making sure to stay in relatively crowded areas; He'd had plenty of warnings about being careful tonight, but he'd really wanted to get away from those there.  
  
Not to mention the fact that Skeeter had been ever so slowly inching her way towards them. He'd snorted when he'd realized it -did she really think he wasn't going to notice?  
  
He moved down another ally, leaving the groups of young people and families behind. Despite the hour there were still heaps of people wandering around -Hogsmead was growing with every new attack. He'd been down this particular ally only once or twice before -it didn't have much that was interesting for people his age.  
  
He noticed a place he hadn't seen before. It was obviously a weapons store of some sort. He opened the door and entered, finding himself vaguely curious.  
  
It looked like they specialized in swords and daggers, but that wasn't all they had. He only had a chance to give the store a quick survey before a voice asked, "What are you interested in?" He looked to the speaker -a man with brown hair who appeared to be in his thirties. He was obviously foreign, with a slight accent.  
  
"Well, I've had some sword training. A little with daggers. Mostly martial arts though."  
  
"Really?" The man picked up a thin sword and tossed it at Harry. He caught it despite his surprise.  
  
"You want to -duel?"  
  
"Indulge me?"  
  
He changed his stance and raised his sword in response.  
  
Two minutes later he had no sword, five minutes later the man was helping him up from the floor. He grimaced at the man. "Now that I've managed to beat you up -nice to meet you, I'm Malik Dacruz."  
  
"Harry Potter."  
  
The man reacted like he would to any name, shaking Harry's hand. "Are you interested in some training?"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"You could decide -I'd just be doing this for fun. I haven't been in back in England long, I was living in Greenland." Harry tried not to show his surprise. Generally people were moving *out* of England right now. Hermione had told him that Lisa Turpin's family was moving to America as soon as she graduated.  
  
"-I would think we could start with swords," the man said with a grin. He looked somewhat amused when he said that, and Harry smiled in return. "- and anything else you are interested in. Have you thought about using a staff?"  
  
"A staff?" Was he serious?  
  
"They actually can be useful magic wise -but it's a different kind of magic that most wizards here probably couldn't learn anyway."  
  
"Alright, I suppose it's good idea -when?" He would inquire about the man -but he seemed alright.  
  
"Hmm. Come back in a week or two and we'll figure it out."  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Hermione noticed Harry walking back into the Three Broomsticks a half an hour later and waved him over. She tried not to show the relief she was feeling -it would only irritate Harry. He greeted her and the rest of the people sitting at the table, then sat down. She noted his thoughtful look and made a mental note to ask him where he went- if she asked now he might not appreciate it.  
  
Ariana had an innocent look on her face. Hmmm. "I noticed you running off after the three" -she added several fake coughs here- "came by." Hermione smirked at her drink.  
  
Harry was saved from replying by Neville coming over and sitting down. She could tell he wanted to talk to Harry.  
  
Neville asked, "Hey. Have you guys -thought about what you are going to do? I mean, your going to be an Auror right?" He directed that last question to Harry.  
  
Hermione could tell he wanted to talk about something important to him. Harry answered, "I don't know, really, why do you ask?" He could see it too apparently. Neville wasn't very hard to read, but Harry *was* good with people. Hermione decided to let him talk.  
  
The young man sighed. "I think I'll be an Auror. My parents were, you know."  
  
Harry looked like he understood what was bothering him. "Really? Well, I had assumed that you were going to do something with Herbology -You were the best at it in school."  
  
Neville smiled, "Well, yeah. But, England needs Aurors now, right?" Of course Neville would want to talk to Harry about this.  
  
After a moment Harry said, "Yes, but a lot of people are planning to become Aurors. Like Ariana there-" She nodded "-and Ron. We can't *all* be Aurors."  
  
"I want to help-"  
  
"You will be helping, by doing what you are good at. It would be a waste to let your talent with Herbology go unused. You should do what you would be happy doing."  
  
Neville looked happier, and he turned to Hermione. "Smashing speech Hermione."  
  
Hermione beamed -he wasn't the only one that had said so. Harry agreed, then asked, "Where's Ron?"  
  
She nodded to her left. A couple of tables down, amidst a particularly loud group, were Ron and Brian arm wrestling. The twins were taking bets. She heard Harry let out a laugh.  
  
Later, when she was walking away from a conversation with Professor McGonagall. She'd asked Hermione to call her Minerva. The change wasn't so startling as it might have been. 'Minerva' had a code of conduct with her students, but she and her friends had gotten to know the teacher better through the Order. In fact, they'd gotten to know all their teachers on more equal terms.  
  
Someone grabbed her arm briefly to halt her, and she found herself looking at Blaise Zambini. She couldn't conceal her surprise; She also noted that they were not exactly in a crowded area.  
  
The other woman let go quickly, no doubt finding it distasteful to be touching a mudblood. "Yes?" She tried not to sound hostile. She was a nice, respectable person. Though perfectly justified in hexing Zambini if she was insulted.  
  
"Draco found out that Potter killed his father. He isn't happy." Zambini had an odd expression, like she wasn't sure she wanted to be saying this. "Thought you should know."  
  
Hermione's cautiousness was forgotten. "What is he planning?"  
  
"I don't know exactly what he is planning. He is planning something though -he wants vengeance." With one last glance at Hermione she quickly walked away.  
  
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The older Harry sold one last dagger then closed the store. He'd recognized the man as a Death Eater and had sold him a 'special' dagger; Laced with several spells that he hadn't told the man about.  
  
He hadn't really needed to convince his younger self to accept training -he already wanted it. Yes, the young man had surreptitiously looked at his arm for the Dark Mark. He wasn't naïve now or then.  
  
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Anticlimactic meeting, wasn't it? 


	21. 20: Leaving

Thank you reviewer people. Yeesh, I had written the five chapters then changed the order of how everything happens and had to rewrite and add. The adding. I keep realizing that I need this and this to happen before I can continue on. Does this happen to everyone?  
  
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Ron stood by the fireplace at the Burrow, all his things around him. Molly was teary eyed, having just given him a bone crushing hug.  
  
Ginny followed suit. "Great, now I'm the closet sibling for the twins can get at."  
  
"I'm gonna miss you, mate." Ron was still somewhat mad at Harry. Resentful even -they'd talked about what they were going to do after school, and now that they were out Ron expected Harry and him to become Aurors. But for some reason he couldn't convince Harry to agree to go to training with him, and now he was going to be separated from his best friend for the longest time in seven years.  
  
"You too Ron." Who knows when he would next see him? Harry found himself full of loss. He stood there, not quite excepting that he'd have a limb ripped off in a few seconds and wouldn't be getting it back for a while.  
  
Ron's father stepped forward and hugged his son and Harry followed. "You'd better write your mother every once in a while or she'll never forgive you."  
  
Ron nodded, and hesitantly turned to the fire. "Verndran Academy"  
  
And he was gone.  
  
Even with the MoM accelerating the training it would be at least a year. Now that Voldemort was coming on full force, they needed more and more Aurors.  
  
That night, after everyone was asleep, Harry sat on the back porch of the Burrow, looking out into the darkness. He knew that there were Aurors out patrolling around, but he couldn't see them.  
  
He held a journal in his hands, having just written down his last. Now that he wasn't at Hogwarts he wrote most of it down, so that he'd remember to Dumbledore at the next meeting.  
  
"Hey."  
  
He looked up and smiled at Ginny. Then he sighed.  
  
"He's mad at you for not going with him, isn't he?"  
  
Harry nodded. "He'll get over it -I know that. But I do wonder if I shouldn't at least tried. I mean, I had wanted to be an Auror."  
  
"You have time -you can become an Auror later if you want to. Besides, there are plenty of people wanting to be Aurors right now. I have friends planning on it."  
  
"I want to fight Voldemort -well, come on, it's me -but I don't want to join the ministry." He had had ban experiences with the ministry; With Mr. Weasley -Arthur, now -he had more respect for it, but not enough to like it.  
  
"Same here -I thought about becoming a medi witch, but I wont know if I'm any good at it until those healing classes next year. Somehow, though, I can't see you as a medi wizard, Harry."  
  
"Me neither."  
  
"What about Quidditch? I know that you got a couple offers."  
  
"See, I could, but it doesn't feel right to play Quidditch right now." Not until he had taken revenge for those who had died. Those who would die.  
  
Besides, in the coming months, perhaps years, his life was going to revolve around the Order. On stopping Voldemort.  
  
"I think I understand that."  
  
They sat in a contemplative silence for a while. Harry was glad he could live off his vault for a while. Actually, probably longer than a while. He frowned. He still didn't actually know how much was in there. Something he needed to do now -he wasn't in school anymore.  
  
He asked, "How much longer will you be here?" Older students now had the opportunity to stay at school for summer programs -if they accepted they only had a third of the summer vacation they used to.  
  
If he remembered correctly, this year she would be getting a crash course in how to apparate. They would go over most of it during the summer, then practice occasionally during the school year. Harry, Ron and Hermione had learned how to apparate much earlier than usual -which had turned out to be a *very* good thing.  
  
"A little more than a week." Then she'd be safe at Hogwarts.  
  
Harry stayed up after she had gone, staring out at the night. Every day was a day closer to when he would face Voldemort *again.* Because everyone expected Harry to kill him. What really pissed him off is that they had expected it since he was one year old. They would have expected it when he was eleven, and didn't know a thing about magic. It didn't matter to them. Yet they would turn in him like the Slytherin's they abhorred. Second year. Fourth year, he was insane. Sixth year, an attempt to frame him that led to a week in Azkaban. 


	22. 21: Exploding Snape

The figure left the bustling street behind and entered WWW. Inside, well, it was chaotic; Every imaginable prank was waiting for every happy prankster. The large space was stuffed with colorful packages. A few people roamed around the isles -he could hear someone burst out into laughter at something he couldn't see from his angle.  
  
He walked down an isle to the back of the store, his face hidden in the recesses of a hood. He approached Fred Weasley, was currently selling nefarious objects to a teenager.  
  
"Hail, Great and Magnificent prankster."  
  
Fred glanced at him and smiled in greeting, recognizing his voice. "Your not scared of me are you?" He handed the kid something as Harry pulled back his hood.  
  
"Well, I've got to show proper respect for one of the dreaded Weasley twins -I heard what you did to-"  
  
He cut himself off, noticing that the kid had frozen and was staring at him. Fred grabbed his arm, "Come on into the back, I've got something to show you."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"What are you doing here anyway?"  
  
"Ron wrote me that he was going to have this weekend off, finally, so we -and Hermione- are going to meet here. I think he just wants to get something to get revenge on some prick from the Academy -he'll tell you about it." His fears that he wouldn't see Ron for a long time had proven unfounded, though he hadn't seen him in a month.  
  
They moved around a row of boxes and George came into sight. "Harry! Just the man to view our newest game. It has a limited market, but it was worth it to make, if only just a few."  
  
Fred piped in, "A collector's addition, you could say."  
  
"What?" He said, both interested and wary.  
  
A few seconds later A box was shoved into his hands. He bit his lip. Large letters proclaimed it to be 'Exploding Snape.' "You didn't," he blurted, amusement bubbling in his voice.  
  
"We did."  
  
He opened it up and looked at the cards, which featured various pictures of Snape. One of them was of Snape in an outfit suited to an old granny. Over his laughter Fred said, "We dedicated that one to Neville."  
  
"Oh god, I have to have one of these."  
  
"No problem," George said with a large grin.  
  
They heard Ron's loud voice shouting, "Fred, George, are you back there?" "Ouch! Well, they might know where Harry is."  
  
Harry smiled anew and shouted back, "We're back here! You've got to see this."  
  
He and the twins smirked as they heard Ron grumble, "Told you. Owe. You're *not* a nice woman. Ah, alright!"  
  
Later they were eating dinner inside the Leaky cauldron, in a private room Harry had paid for. Ron just grunted when Hermione asked about his training. "Well, it's harder for others, I mean, they are not used to danger. They can't transition form 'fine and dandy' one moment to 'in danger and alert' the next."  
  
Harry nodded in agreement, and Hermione speared him with a look. "You are being careful, aren't you?" referring to Malfoy.  
  
Ron snorted. "Like he's more of a threat then Voldemort." Harry smiled a bit at the fact that his friends now said the name.  
  
He also sensed a growing conflict, if Hermione's scowl was any judge. Harry asked, "what about you Hermione, your work?"  
  
Before she had a chance to say anything, Ron put in "Research, research and more research."  
  
"Actually, I have something I wanted to tell you two. Mind you, don't tell anyone else-"  
  
They heard a knock at the door, and all glanced at each other. Harry, ready to grab his wand, answered. "Come in."  
  
They relaxed when Tom came in. "Mr. Potter, there was an urgent call for you. It was Mr. Fletcher."  
  
Harry moved to the fire and tossed some powder in as Tom left. "Gus?"  
  
A head popped into the fire. "Harry, there was a surprise attack in Wales, at Fiedend. We could use you."  
  
"Do you need us?" asked Ron.  
  
"No, but thanks for the offer -I just needed a few with a good Patronus."  
  
Harry nodded and the head disappeared. "Gotta go."  
  
"It's alright Harry, good luck." Hermione said.  
  
Ron added, "See ya mate," although he was probably miffed that he hadn't been called as well.  
  
Harry threw a different kind of powder into the fire and stepped into the flames, first checking in with Gus. It would have been a bad idea to apparate from the Leaky Cauldron, as you never knew if Death Eaters were waiting for you to step out of the pub. After being directed by Gus, he apparated onto the scene. Death Eaters and Vampires attacked muggle and wizards alike. There were enough dementors to keep him buzy, though not many.  
  
The Order had most of them cornered into a section of the town; He ran over to a group holding their own between two buildings to help. He immediately shot of a Patronus, followed by a curse.  
  
In the chaos of flying curses he saw a vampire biting into man. He killed it, and the man slumped to the floor. He'd already lost too much blood. "We need to get these people out of here!" He organized a few others and started sending people into a large building, presumably the town hall.  
  
He didn't know how long it took, but eventually he got most of the people inside. He muttered a locking charm at the main door and took off in a running crouch. He spotted a group of Death Eaters tormenting muggles in the middle of a street. "Well what do we have here? A mudblood." The man had grabbed the woman by the arm.  
  
Harry heard a distant song and had to keep himself from being distracted. He began shooting off curses, noting which Death Eaters were using those damned shields. Most shields would only last seconds, and the Order had still not figured out how they were maintaining these.  
  
He ran from behind the pile of debris as someone blew it up and began tossing knives. When all the Death Eaters were disabled he moved to the group of victims. "All of you, take this, it's a portkey."  
  
Before the woman disappeared, her eyes alighted on his scar. 


	23. 22: Empathy

The next day the fighting was over, and Harry was exhausted. The townsfolk were sifting through the rubble of their homes. Luckily, most of the muggles living here already knew about the wizarding world; They were friends, family, or even squibs.  
  
Many still slept inside the town hall, only now able to sleep, after they couldn't go on any longer. The children had been forced to swallow sleeping potions for the most part.  
  
He wearily accepted the cup of coffee from Maya. "Do we know what they were looking for? I noticed that they concentrated on the northwest corner of the town."  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I'm going to go find Gus."  
  
He walked into the City Hall, looking for him. He walked passed a mother holding her three year old son, and hated Voldemort all the more.  
  
He spotted Gus. "Gus?"  
  
"Have you seen an old woman, dark skinned, probably carrying a staff?"  
  
Harry frowned, "No, why?"  
  
"Dumbledore wanted me to find her." Harry had a suspicion that she might be what the Death Eaters were looking for. "She created a barrier around the building last night, using her staff, I've never seen the like." Harry's eyes widened -a staff?  
  
"Her name is Natalia if you are wondering," came a wizened voice. The old woman walked over to them.  
  
"Ma'am, Dumbledore would like to see you." Gus said politely.  
  
"I bet."  
  
"Would you take her Harry?"  
  
Harry nodded but the woman cut in, "I don't need the help, for your information, but I'll accept to be peaceable." She eyes Harry.  
  
"Floo or apparating to Hogsmead?"  
  
"Apparating thank you. I'm way too old for floo."  
  
She said nothing on the way to Hogwarts, except to say that he was an 'interesting young man.'  
  
When they got past the Aurors and other guards, they made their way to Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster stood up and hugged her when they came in. "I see Harry escorted you."  
  
"Humph. I don't suppose you know how he knew about me?"  
  
"Too the point I see. No, I don't. Are you sure they even knew you were there?"  
  
"Yes, I am. I could use some tea."  
  
Harry asked, "What did they want her for?"  
  
Natalia deferred to Dumbledore. "She is an powerful witch, more like a mage, really, and an empath, He could use her to read people."  
  
"Mage?"  
  
Ariana spoke, "A different kind of magic, a different mindset."  
  
"Could you teach me?"  
  
"Maybe. Maybe. You are an interesting young man,"  
  
"What do you mean by that Nat?" questioned Dumbledore.  
  
"Albus, I can sense something from him. Some you don't need to know about. But I think he could learn to be a mage, and most can't." She looked at Harry. "Apart form that I can hear, sense, something unusual about him." She closed her eyes. "A faint song. Like a Phoenix."  
  
Harry didn't quite know what to think about this. "What does that mean?" He looked back and forth between the two.  
  
"I'm not quite sure," he had a thoughtful look, "maybe it has something to do with you being Gryffindor's heir."  
  
Harry made a noncommittal noise.  
  
"What do you plan to do with me Albus?"  
  
Dumbledore turned his attention to her. "Well, we have many Order safehouses, you could go to another country-"  
  
"Like that would help."  
  
"-and there is always the ministry."  
  
She snorted.  
  
"You could find a secluded spot to build a hut. I could send Aurors or Order agents."  
  
"I refuse to tie up anyone that could be helping."  
  
"Would you agree to stay here then?"  
  
"I suppose. You wouldn't leave me alone if I didn't. But I demand a lemon drops in compensation."  
  
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "If I must part with them, I must."  
  
"I'll even go to those blasted meetings, although I doubt I'll be much help. But must I live in the school? All these people."  
  
"Ah, I believe we have a cabin on the grounds you could live in." He didn't look quite so happy now, no doubt remembering the former resident. "Harry, if you could?"  
  
"Of course, sir." He and Natalia stood.  
  
"Lead the incredibly long and excruciating way."  
  
He repressed a smile.  
  
The trek through the grounds was muddy, it having just rained. The forest loomed in the distance, and the sky had large puffy clouds rolling overhead.  
  
Inside Hagrid's old cabin he felt the grief welling up. Her voice startled him, "Who did you lose?"  
  
"Hagrid. He was a teacher, though not the best at it. But he was wonderful. My first friend."  
  
He felt her hand on his arm. "Listen."  
  
He closed his eyes. He could hear Hagrid, like a distant voice. The kind of man he was, things he felt. Harry heard his own gasp from far away.  
  
Then he relived a flood of images, such as the time Hagrid kept Norbert in his cabin. It was like it was only just now happening.  
  
He opened his eyes. She said, "You can feel it now?"  
  
He only looked at her in astonishment.  
  
"Everyone leaves echoes of themselves. On places, people. That's another thing you'll learn to feel, the connections between people. The mind, the soul, the being -is in itself a form of magic." 


	24. 23: Observe

Sirius and his godson were walking down a street in London. It was approaching dusk, and there were a few other people walking along the street.  
  
The two men were dressed in dark muggle clothes. Sirius now had brown hair, and Harry had red hair. Sirius knew that Harry actually kind of liked it -red hair reminded him of the Weasley's.  
  
Now, why were they walking around in muggle London in disguise? Hopefully, to capture Death Eaters. They could be informative -especially the inner circle Death Eaters. And most importantly, they needed to be unmasked. The Death Eater's greatest ally was anonymity.  
  
Sirius and Harry each wore a watch charmed to detect magic being used in a certain radius. Snape had kindly informed them of certain Death Eater's habits. Where they would likely seek their 'fun.' So, recently, they could be found strolling around London.  
  
Sirius was glad he got this assignment -he got to spend a lot of time talking to Harry. Granted, he had to walk all over muggle London, but hey, it was good exercise.  
  
He got gotten into an argument with Harry pushing himself -he went for runs every morning, practiced fighting in Hogsmead, spent hours learning from an old friend of Dumbledore's, went on various missions for the Order, and researching new spells all the time. Harry could do wandless magic, but it was something that needed a hell of a lot of control, and thus time spent practicing. Harry also wanted to become an animagus; He *was* making great progress in that area, though he was having major problems settling on an animal. But then, Harry had had to grow up too fast, and he was showing it.  
  
Sirius was currently talking, though he could tell that Harry's mind was somewhere else. Probably not anywhere good, if the nightmares he had were any indication. When had found out about the silencing charms Harry put around his bed every night, the boy had tried to get him to ignore it. "-I bet GINNY would like your red hair."  
  
Harry jerked. "What?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. Now, as I was ASKING you, when is the wedding-" Sirius' amused voice cut off as they got a trace on some magic. Enough magic to indicate more than one wizard.  
  
They followed the signal, towards the source.  
  
They exchanged a glance when they rounded a corner; They had definitely reached where they were going. His godson quietly followed him and they crouched behind a car, unnoticed.  
  
The Death Eaters were torturing muggles. There were about five of them, and many more muggles. Several muggles were stunned, some petrified. Others were being hit, cursed, spun around in the air.  
  
Harry's face hardened with anger at the sight. The expression on his own face was likely not for off.  
  
"Evigilo," Sirius murmured as he turned on the recorder. Once again, the quest for evidence.  
  
Sirius was wondering if they would be able to take on all five of them. A hard decision; He usually wouldn't have a qualm about risking it, but then his partner was Harry. His godson. It was a good thing Harry could not hear his thoughts.  
  
His debate was forgotten as he noticed another man arrive down the street. He gestured to Harry, who looked over and saw him too. They watched.  
  
The Death Eaters either hadn't seen or cared to notice the man yet. The man had a cold look on his face; As if he was as angry as they were at the sight, but had seen it too often.  
  
The man stepped to the side and a part of the street under him blew up, as if a spell had hit it. Harry's eyes widened a bit and he glanced at Sirius, who was avidly watching. The man was wearing muggle jeans and a plain T-shirt. The interesting aspect of his appearance were the knives strapped around his waist, as well as a wand strapped to his arm.  
  
The man raised a hand and threw a silvery dagger at the balcony above him.  
  
There was a scream, and parts of a man appeared on the ground underneath the balcony; He had obviously fallen from it, his head and legs now visible. He could hear Harry's astonished, "An invisibility cloak!?"  
  
The other Death Eaters dropped their torture and turned to the unknown wizard, who had just set another invisible man aflame. Sirius realized what was going on -they had been waiting for the man.  
  
The wizard had dodged another hex, and a Death Eater was stunned. Another one, petrified. He considered helping, but they needed to watch. If this was indeed the man he thought it was.  
  
One of them let out a yell as he was electrocuted by some sort of spell, dropping to the ground unconscious.  
  
"Go," one of them shouted lunging for the nearest muggle. The other Death Eater disapperated away.  
  
The remaining Death Eater held the muggle between him and the other wizard. Who was striding towards him, unconcerned with the wand pointed at him.  
  
"Who are you?" He listened carefully to the voice, but it was unfamiliar.  
  
"Don't bother stalling me, I know this is an ambush and am perfectly willing to wait for your reinforcements." The man smirked. He wondered what the expression was under that Death Eater's mask.  
  
The Death Eater started to caste a curse, but the mysterious man was faster. He shot a curse that, Sirius realized, shattered the bones in the Death Eater's wand arm; He promptly screamed in agony, dropped his wand, and thereby letting the terrified muggle go.  
  
The wizard reholstered his wand and gestured at the muggles; The petrified were released, and the unconscious woke with a start.  
  
"Holy shit," Sirius murmured. Most of the muggles were running.  
  
Both men behind the car froze when the man looked over at them. He tensed, but in the next second the man was distracted again. The other Death Eater had returned, and he was not alone.  
  
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Enialedam: I was wondering when someone would wonder that! There are two very vague hints about his age- I'm not sure I should tell you yet. or even if it will become important. 


	25. 24: Showing Off

He tore his gaze away from the two hiding behind the red car. What he saw next, while expected, was a strange sight.  
  
In the street of muggle London stood Death Eaters, mountain trolls, vampires, and some strange little creatures. Thankfully no dementors -though there were few left these days.  
  
Not to mention a disapparation barrier; But then again, he expected that.  
  
"Well, looks like you are surrounded," a cold voice mentioned.  
  
"That's a fair assessment."  
  
"Either come with us or we will take our revenge. Dead *or* alive was the command." He could hear the hostility. Apparently he'd pissed them off by killing their friends.  
  
"Sorry, but I don't feel like either option." As one of them laughed he wandlessly put up a shield.  
  
As energy draining as it was, there were too many Death Eaters for him to duck everything that would be thrown at him  
  
A curse was fired at him. It rebounded. He gave a dramatic shrug.  
  
The Death Eaters decided to let the trolls at him. 'Great.'  
  
The nearest swung at him and he ducked. He noted a few of the muggles who were still lying on the ground, and decided to take the fight away from them.  
  
He needed a moment to accomplish something, something that would definitely focus all attention on him. The trolls, however, weren't giving him one. He ducked a club; He sidestepped one the dark blue creatures. It flew past right past him.  
  
He pursed his lips and ran for it, transforming as he went. He grew larger, and larger still. It is a strange sensation, transformation while you are moving. As his clawed feet still pounded down the street, his wings extended.  
  
Soon a creature, somewhat like an abnormally large bird, was flying above the street. Scales formed white and gold streaks, with hints of red here and there. His shriek echoed down the street.  
  
He arced around, over buildings.  
  
He could see people in the windows watching.  
  
He put his flames to use.  
  
The trolls went down in flames.  
  
Harry didn't stop there, he started in on the Death Eaters. He could feel stings from the spells they were throwing at him; He had to swerve to avoid the killing curse.  
  
He was just too big to avoid so many spells, so he had to transform. He transformed as he flew, heading for the two hiding behind the car. He landed behind them, landing somewhat ungracefully, now human.  
  
"Hi."  
  
They looked at him like he was insane. As he picked himself off the ground Sirius started cursing the Death Eaters that was storming in their direction.  
  
At least six of them had the same shield the Malfoy had had. They started using the killing curse in time to pick off two of them.  
  
"Shit!" Exclaimed his younger self, ducking one of the creatures, which had leaped at him.  
  
Harry reset his shield and let the Death Eaters hit him with the killing curse, which just rebounded. This made them pause long enough for Sirius to punch one of them, who followed suit. For some reason, it disturbed people that he could block the unblockable.  
  
His younger self was grappling with a Death Eater, who, it seemed, also had some knowledge of martial arts.  
  
He quickly kicked a Death Eater approaching on his left, following with another well aimed blow. The man collapsed, gasping. The last one had a sword, and attempted to use it.  
  
Harry jumped back to avoid a slash, then kicked it out of the other's hand. He punched, twice, and the man collapsed.  
  
Then he drew his wand petrified the creature that was flying at Sirius. The younger Harry was removing his knife from one of the creatures.  
  
Sirius and Harry looked at him. They didn't really know what to say. He noted that muggles were starting to appear, down the street, at the doorways.  
  
"Don't you think something should be down about them?" he asked, gesturing to the muggles.  
  
"The MoM should get here soon." Said Sirius  
  
"Not with the disapparation barrier." He replied.  
  
"The d- When did they do that?"  
  
"When I got here." He started walking towards Avery who was on the ground, clutching his arm, barely conscious.  
  
"So you're the man whose been beating up Death Eaters?"  
  
He shoved Avery over and reached into a pocket. "Yes, I have been beating up Death Eaters." Admitting little. "Seems I pissed them off and they felt the need to ambush me."  
  
He pulled something out. It was a glass sphere, full of red and orange, energy visibly rolling around. Sirius whistled.  
  
"What is that?" Asked his younger self.  
  
"This is what they tied the barrier to. Pretty impressive piece of magic if I do say so. But then, it is Voldemort." His younger self looked at him curiously. Few dared to say the name.  
  
He held out his hand with the device in front of him, and stared at it for a long moment. The other two watched as it sparked then crumbled.  
  
"I'm one of the few members of the Dark Force Defense League that is useful and not otherwise occupied."  
  
As soon as it did, Aurors and obliviators began to apparate in.  
  
He smiled broadly at Sirius and shook his hand. "Nice to see you, Sirius Black," he said, just remembering to add the last name.  
  
The other man started, still not completely used to his freedom -not that everyone was exactly accepting of his innocence anyway. He was also supposedly in disguise. He countered with, "You are-"  
  
He merely looked at his younger self and shook his own hand. "Harry Potter." He smiled at his own small twist of the truth.  
  
"Sir." Green eyes, a twin to his own, pierced him.  
  
Then he disapperated.  
  
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Ah, yet more chapters where I dance around the revelation of the older Harry. 


	26. 25: Birthday

He sat straight, his head reaching higher than the chair he sat in. Several years without the Dursleys starving him had giving him the opportunity he needed to grow. He and the other tall, dark haired man sat across from Dumbledore, whose hand was thoughtfully stoking his beard. They and some of the rest of the Order all watched the recording from a week ago.

The image moved, and Harry saw the animagus attack the trolls once again. He heard a few gasps and murmurs, and glanced around at all the familiar faces.

When it was over, Dumbledore asked, "Devin, do you recognize that?" 

A man standing beside him in a deep red robe answered, "I think it might be a Igneus lacerta -fiery lizard- which has been rarely seen. Rumors, sightings, over many years. I'm can't believe someone had enough contact with one for it to be an animagus form, much less have seen one." He started pacing. "They only live -supposedly- inside volcanoes. They are presumably a cousin of dragons- that's about all I can say." A rather short explanation from the former Ravenclaw, considering how much Harry had heard him go on about other things.

Ayre on the far side of the room said, "I checked with the DFDL Albus, and a man with his description _is_ a new member."

"How new?" asked Moody.

"Four months. He saved another members life, who then recommended him- that's all I could find out."

"Look, what does it matter? So there's some vigilante running around. All the better-" 

Harry mused, 'maybe they'll get over me then-'

A blond haired woman asked "Aren't you curious?" 

Before the man responded Snape said with a sneer, "Getting tired of their Boy Who Lived are they?" 

"Severus." 

Than dark man said nothing more, but Harry was still irritated. Not at Snape's comment -he'd heard plenty more and worse from the man. He was remembering that he'd won Witch Weekly's most charming smile award yesterday. 'Like they've even seen me recently!' In the middle of a war and the press was still continuing that idiotic contest without the victor's consent.

Dumbledore paused the recording. In the frozen image, the man stood with the sphere in his hand. "Hermione, Erin, I want you to research the barrier -get whoever you need. I've never seen a portable apparition barrier, and they could prove useful…"

He felt Sirius nudge him and he remembered what he was going to say, "Last night I saw Voldemort planning to attack the ministry. Since he knows it's near impossible to get in through the manual entrances, he's going to try to take over the floo network -and there's a Death Eater in the Department of Transportation. I don't know who." Paranoia was starting to build, with so many new recruits buying into Voldemort's propaganda. As before, people just didn't know _who _the enemy was. 

Harry added all the details he could remember and they planned their counter moves; The meeting lasted several more hours. With a final discussion on preventing Voldemort from disrupting trade, Dumbledore declared the meeting over. Harry got up and said good bye to Brian.

"I hear it's your birthday?"

"Yep. I thought I'd visit Hermione's place." He nodded in her direction, where she sat engrossed in a conversation.

"Englishmen. Don't know how to party."

"Next time I'll let you plan a party." 

"Sure." Something about Brian's grin worried him. 

He hoped he'd be able to have a party next year. This year he was forgoing it. It was naturally a target for Voldemort, and their had been proof that Malfoy was going to try something on his birthday.

He was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to see Ron though; He was stuck in training. He might have been able to get special permission to visit, being one of the Hogwarts Trio, but Harry had told him not to.

He headed towards Hermione to offer his help with her research into the portable apparition barrier 0he had some idea of his own. "Harry." He turned to find himself looking into Dumbledore's blue eyes. 

"Sir."

"Would you be willing to contact and escort new muggle born students?"

Harry blinked in surprise. "Sure. Where, when and how?"

"Come to my office on Tuesday, I'll give you the details. I've asked Hermione and a few others as well- not all the teachers are free to make trips."

Sirius came up and draped an arm around his shoulder, "Now, how come no one ever told me about what the Trio did for Halloween their sixth year?"

"What?" Harry vaguely remembered -he, Ron, and Hermione had taken to performing a few harmless pranks to cheer up the student body. He and Hermione had had to argue Ron into submission over the idea of focusing of the Slytherins. Alienation them would have been a _bad_ idea. They were going to need everyone.

Dumbledore was smiling, "You mean enchanting the pumpkins to go bouncing around hitting people?"

"That would be it."

Harry put on a confused face. "How much did I drink that night?"

He could feel Sirius shaking with repressed mirth. "That must be why you didn't tell me. Or about the rest-"

He added a touch of innocence to his look. "What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"What!?"

When they got back to Moony's Mansion (a homely cabin), his present from Remus and Sirius made him forget everything he had been worrying about. "Sirius came up with the idea when you finally picked your animagus form."

"He's fantastic." Harry examined his new pet, which was currently resting on his arm.

"Of course, this means you'll need a Marauder's name."

"Swoop?"

"Hunter?"

"How about Feathers?"

"I don't think so!"

"Talon."

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He rummaged around in the room of his current abode, searching for something. He wore dark blue robes today, and due to the fact that he wasn't going anywhere today, he looked like himself. His green eyes scanned the countertop on his way out of the room, still looking, and passing over something flaming red and gold.

He abruptly stopped and looked at the bird.

He frowned, perplexed at the phoenix, and not a little astonished. Stelliger was his phoenix (as much as a phoenix can _be_ someone's) in the future. 

In fact, this was how he had first shown up; One day he was just there. Harry smiled at the bird, "'lo Stell" and he let out a welcoming trill. The name was the phoenix's own choosing.

Harry shook his head in wonderment and moved into the kitchen. As far as he knew, he and Dumbledore were the only wizards that 'owned' phoenixes in Britain.


	27. 26: Train Ride

The scarlet train sped over the train tracks. Countryside ripped past as the train continued along to it's destination. No doubt inside were hundreds of students, talking, reminiscing, looking forward to the new year; Apprehensive first years debating about what house they'd be sorted into. The cart woman was probably rolling down the isle, selling candy.

Then the train began to slow. Death Eater's stood, far ahead, their wands pointing towards the train. They chanted as one, concentrating. Grin's of victory -and relief- adorned many of their faces at their victory. One woman's uncaring expression never changed.

The train came to a complete stop just after it rolled past. It took three of them for the unlocking charm to work on the back of the train. Then they stormed inside.

They found no screaming students. Only baggage, trunks hastily discarded. "Move to the front, search every car," the woman said. It was a futile attempt -they must all be crowded into the front cars. The Aurors were just buying time.

They reached the last car, unimpeded. So there were not enough of them to take her and her companions on then -or they would have attacked by now. They found the door sealed. They *were* in there. "Keep hammering at it." The woman said with a cold look in her eyes. Crammed together with hundreds of students in the car, any opposition they faced would not be very effective.

Then one of the junior Death Eaters came bursting through the door at the back of the car. "Menster fell."

"Explain," she demanded sharply.

"I don't know, he just cried out and fell."

"Idiot." She pushed past him and shouted, "Keep working." This was why her lord needed her. The world was filled with incompetent idiots.

Soon she stood over a young Death eater, in his twenties, checking him over. Paralyzed. She frowned, 'What the hell?' At the moment her bodyguard cried out, grabbing his leg and stumbling into the wall of the compartment.

She spun, but saw no one. "Something bit- me. Foot." Her bodyguard gasped out before slumping to the floor. Her eyes narrowed and she scanned the floor briefly before she rushed through the train. 

The scene in the third car sent panic into her eyes. Ten of them were on the floor, and she had to step over them. She kept moving, not caring if she stepped on them. Her head snapped to the source of a slight movement. A snake. She picked it up with both hands, preventing it from biting her. 'Poisonous.'

In the second car they had just broken through the door, to find themselves facing- nothing. Then curses flew at them, from seeming out of nowhere. In the small confines they had no room to maneuver.

They one's left standing ran, passing her, running carelessly over their fellow paralyzed Death Eaters. "Fuck." She dropped the snake and ran after them. Her master would _not_ be pleased. They jumped out of the train and a Death Eater stumbled in his haste, falling flat on his face. They all grabbed their arms and tried to apparate, but it didn't work.

Noticing that they were just standing there in stupification, she prompted, "Get to the forest." She pointed her wand towards the forest, yelling an incantation. Her master always had a second plan. She ran, not looking to see if the rest followed. Then she was hit from behind, and the last thing she saw was the grass rushing up to meet her.

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The man who stunned her followed suit with the rest. He was pleased that his plan had worked, but furious that they would attack students. He leaned down and studied her face.

"Did you get them all Harry?" A familiar voice asked from behind.

"Yeah, and Lestrange was the leader of their escapade." 

"Looks like your plan paid off," Sirius said. "Which one?"

He turned and looked at his godfather, and the others who were exiting the train. "The wife."

"That went well," said Walter McGonagall, Minerva's brother; As it turned out, he worked with snakes.

"-No, she did something before I knocked her out -using a language I've never heard before." He had heard a lot of languages, via screams of Death Eater's victimswhile he slept.

"I can see that," said Sirius, moving into a battle ready stance.

Harry turned and saw something very large, green and blue, pushing trees aside as it moved out of the forest. It was headed for the group. He had never seen anything like it before, part snake part -giant. It's skin was a mottled, for the most part pale blue. It's torso, not unlike a mermaid, scaled over. There were, however, no fins; A long tail snaked behind the monster, it's scales in hues of green and black. It's face looked about as sinister as a face could, with it's misshapen eyes. It had no hair, only odd ridges. It's hands sported long sinister nails -if you could call them nails.

Walter hurriedly said, "It's a Naga, most spells wont work on it so don't waste your time on low level spells." Harry didn't like the panic in his voice.

Harry considered the daggers he had strapped inside his boots. 'Damn. Why didn't I bring any better weapons?' He thought this as he shot a curse at the Naga that should have made it spontaneously combust. It did make a pained noise; Not quite the effect he was hoping for. He felt something heavy in his hand and blinked in surprise. It was Gryffindor's sword…

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In a large marked area, designated for this purpose by the Order, a large group of first years arrived. Several of them, never having used a portkey before, were wide eyed. All of them were excited, as first years usually are. More so because they had heard about how this was the first time this had been done.

Several third years peered over the railing in delight, down the ground far below. Many more crowded into the center, terrified of either the height or the dragon on which they rode. It beat it's mighty wings, making some cringe.

Fifth years were all crammed into a triple decked bus, which had been magically enlarged. It was not unlike the Knight Bus, though there were no beds. Inside it was loud and raucous, though many were indignant at the muggle-like transportation

Seventh years all sat quite still, afraid to get up. The humongous flying carpet had no railings, although several Aurors flew alongside on brooms just in case an unwary student fell. Ginny Weasley sat beside Colin, imagining that Harry and Ron would love riding on the carpet if they were there. "Do you think they actually attacked the train?"

"If they did, they are in for a surprise. I bet Harry an Aurors were there waiting for them -they are probably all beaten up by now."

"I hope no one got hurt."

"Women."

"Men." She, of all people, knew what she was talking about.


	28. 27: Welcoming Feast

Kaylene Sinistra sat to his right, and Virgilio Caryk sat on his left. Both were former Slytherins, making the feast more tolerable. Severus found that most of the other Professors felt that the Welcoming Feast was the perfect opportunity to discuss house politics. Even the Hufflepuffs were insufferably superior. He sent a sneer down the table at Lynwood. He vividly remembered their last encounter. He gratified to note that the balding man cringed.

He winced internally as the sorting hat began it's song. It got worse every year. And, due to the fact that there were several times as many new bumbling students as there had been in the blissful past, the length of the song was extended accordingly. It had even added the Lightning House. 

Thank every famous and deceased witch and wizard that he would not have to teach all of them. His province was now the older students, some of which actually had some wits.

As the excruciatingly long list of names was read out loud by Minerva, Kaylene leaned over to him. "I have a bet with Haily that she will lose her voice halfway through." Haily Sprout, as it turned out, was somewhat of a gambler.

He eyed Minerva. "That would be a shame." In truth, he respected the woman, even though she was the head of Gryffindore. It was quite enjoyable though, to find new ways to irritate her, which he did whenever possible. She repaid him in kind. There may have be an undertone of amusement when they shot barbs at each other during staff meetings, but few noticed.

Minerva was only just now getting through the 'L's when the doors to the Great Hall opened. A messenger came through the large doors at the end of the Great Hall, hurriedly walking down the aisle between the Lightning and Gryffindor tables. Of course, she wasn't trying to look hurried. And, as he neared the end of the long trek, she was slowed down, unable to keep up the pace. It was a rather long walk. 

The students all whispered to each other; Though, do to the sheer number of them, it became a loud din. Many, like he, had undoubtedly figured out what this might be about. Say, the decoy train. Granted, few of them should have known about that, but rumors spread like a plague.

The woman went straight for Dumbledore and said something to him quickly. Severus watched carefully. He had picked up a slight skill in lip reading. He caught some of the words, even with the woman's face turned slightly away: _Train, attacked, Potter_ (of course), _Naga_ (did he see that right?), _Injuries, forest, town, muggles, Ministry_…

Virgilio asked, "what did you catch?" as Dumbledore stood up and walked over to Minerva, saying something to her. Severus repeated what he had caught, low enough that only the two beside him would hear. He couldn't tell what Dumbledore said, as his back was facing Severus, but he saw Minerva's face. The woman's face was lined with worry, showing off her age. Then he remembered -her brother was there, helping. Some idea of Potters -he didn't know exactly what.

Dumbledore cast a charm on his throat, and his voice boomed out through the Hall. "Students, you have a right to know what is happening in regards to Voldemort, as you, though you may be children, are also caught up in the war. So I will tell you this: Voldemort has in fact attacked the Hogwarts Express." At this announcement, excited cries, gasps, and murmurs burst out of many, teachers and students alike. His trained ears caught Fluer translating for some of the French teachers on the other side of the table. "Silence! Now, this is indeed shocking. Keep in mind what kind of man Voldemort-" Dumbledore plowed through the slight burst of noise at his name "-is, and what he will do. A few lost their lives, and many were injured, in spite of our preparations. They gave their lives, and we have caught several dozen Death Eaters. All of them will be tried for their crimes." 

There were cheers at this. Severus' face was as blank as ever. He could not help but wonder _who_ had been caught, whose friends and family would now face Azkaban -though rightly so. He himself deserved to be there.

Dumbledore looked down at the group of first years, all wide eyed and uncomfortable. Albus was ever so fond of children; Must be part of his eccentricity. "Now, I we shall continue the sorting. Proffessor Vector, if you would. And if the Heads of House would follow me, we shall attend to the matter at hand."

Severus stood and acknowladged Kaylene with a nod. He strode towards Dumbledore and Minerva, not giving a second thought to the meal he wouldn't have a chance to eat. Hunger was a small pain, easily ignored.

Once they were out of the Great Hall, Dumbledore gave Haily and Filius some instructions, such as the notices he had panned to give the students and the end of the Feast. As the messenger led them to the entrance of the school, the headmaster gave them a very short version of what happened. Basically, the train was indeed attacked, though all the Death Eaters had been taken care of. 

Then Albus sent the other two back to the Hall.

Severus asked, "Where, exactly, are we going?"

Albus answered, "To the ministry. From what I gather they encountered an unexpected difficulty." At this, the messenger snorted.

They came reached their destination, and came upon a short gray haired man. He robed were ripped and filthy. "Darrick."

The man replied, "Dumbledore. They might be at the ministry by now-"

"Take us there then. You may elaborate when we get there -I have a feeling this will be a rather long story."

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It took them several hours to get into the Ministry, despite Dumbledore's prestigeous presence. He and Minerva sniped at each other to pass the time. Finally, they entered a waiting room, containing Potter and several of the others who had been on the train. They all look beaten and worn.

Potter himself was leaning against to wall, his eyes closed. His robed were tattered so much that Severus could see the muggle clothes beneath. Blood staines were everywhere, and he had a deep gash on his left forearm. His hair was a mess, sporting twigs and leaves. 'Ah, so many insults come to mind.'

"Grahm, Karen." Dumbledore acknowledged. He conjured chairs for him and the three who followed him. The woman named Karen spoke up, "We've been debreifed by the ministry already, and the Death Eaters are all contained." She wiped at her face, smearing blood and dirt, which was already covering both the hand and the cheek.

Black came into the room, followed by an Auror. "Albus, Minerva… Severus." Snape eyed the scruffy man. 'Gee, he actually acknowledged me. The happy delirium follows.' His expression never changed. "Where's-" Black cut himself off noticing him godson resting against the wall. Severus too looked, and frowned. Potter still hadn't moved.

As Sirius went over to his godson, another man said, "We took all the seriously injured to St. Mungo's. Minerva, your brother is fine, just a few broken bones, bruises and scrapes." Severus saw Minerva's face tighten in her effort not to show her relief. Then he heard a slight sound, and snapped his head back to Black and Potter.


	29. 28: Startling

Black was standing still looking at his godson with concern. "Harry?"

Potter hadn't moved, except that his wand was now in his hand, pointed at Sirius. His bright green eyes were fixed straight ahead at Black, unseeing. It was rather eerie, and no one moved for lack of any idea what to do. Then those eyes flicked around and back to Black and he said, "Sirius." Potter looked around the room. "Sir, Professors, sorry about that."

Severus looked at him piercingly, analyzing, as he came over and took a seat. "Tired from all your Gryffindore heroism?"

Harry grimaced. "Tired, yes. Does anyone know what a Soul binding potion is?" Some of the other people in the room looked startled, the rest merely blinking at the seeming randomness of the question.

Severus' mind instantly called up the information he wanted. "It has several uses, and is rarely used. To sum up an hour of talking, it's most often used bind a person's soul to either an object, or a person. -Need I mention that it is considered very dark magic?"

Albus looked at Harry, "Where, may I ask did you hear of it?" 

"Voldemort, a few minutes ago, was reading about it in potions book." Severus noted a few shocked reactions by people in the room. Several of them had just fought Death Eaters and they still reacted this way to his name. But then, perhaps it was Potter's casual mention that he had just seen Voldemort. Potter wasn't prone to carelessness… so why did he just risk revealing his 'visions?' 

The messenger, the same as earlier, had just come into the room and was now completely pale.

He would speak to Albus later. Voldemort had recently asked for a few strange potion ingredients… among other things. He had been carefully researching and asking questions. Steering conversations was now second nature to him -people gave away some most intriguing information when they thought they were just saying whatever came to mind. Idle chit chat with an old friend.

He didn't try this on Voldemort; The 'Master' was indeed himself a master manipulator. Severus thought it rather startling that he was still alive. Sometimes he wondered if Voldemort was really just playing with him. If Severus were alone, he would have let out a harsh laugh. He didn't expect to survive the war in any case.

Someone else would have to guide precarious young Slytherins.

Now Dumbledore had begun his questioning, and the tale unfolded. Derrick, the man who had come to Hogwarts, told most of it.

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Harry sat back and listened, occasionally adding input. He was tied physically, mentally, and magically. He could lightly sense all the emotions in the room, thanks to all the practice he'd had with Natalia. It was so very strange -now he couldn't imagine how limited his perceptions must have been.

In any case, on with the story:

__

Harry and the rest had just finished taking out all the Death Eaters, including a major supporter of Voldemort's -Lestrange. Then, low and behold, a Naga was summoned -it was going to take them a while to figure out quite how that had happened. Naga's were not even from their plane.

__

They tried different spells on it, and even in concert they only did so much good. It had an amazing amount of resistance to magic, and a fitting stamina. It's skin was the most vulnerable, particularly to physical harm. You try taking down a giant rampaging monster through slowly bleeding it via the small (for it) wound's you can inflict upon it. 

They lost someone in the first minute. 

__

They dodged, ran, took cover, shot curses, ducked flying chunks of train. Harry himself actually flipped_ over it's giant onrushing tail at one point. Luckily, one of them had a crossbow full of poisoned bolts that slowed it down. After some time, Harry himself had thrown too very well aimed daggers: One to the heart, another to the right eye. It had fled. _

__

Harry sent some of them to the ministry -which took a while, as they had to run past the apparition barrier- and took chase. He and his group had caught up with it as it terrorized a muggle town. Well, mostly muggle. In any case, Harry had organized the rest of the wizards. They had tried several different things, such as slamming cars into it. In the end, Harry jumped onto it from a building, and had used his glowing sword to…

McGonagall, with a skeptical look, asked, "What is this -glowing sword business?"

Dumbledore had an knowing look trained on him, and Harry knew that he already had his suspicions. He took the gleaming sword out of his robes, from a scabbard he had transfigured for it. He had already cleaned it, though he couldn't quite remember when. 

Sirius voice questioned, "Harry?"

The battered young man in question lethargically stood up. In a quick motion that had someone uttering a startled, "what-" he threw it. As it arced across the room, he held out a hand, and the sword appeared. Harry looked at the ancient sword and it began to glow golden. He felt a slight wave of fatigue and let go. After a moment it the glow dissipated, and he sat back down.

Sirius had an eyebrow raised. McGonagall had an expression that was baffled, interested, and yet unsurprised. "How -interesting," was all Snape had to say. Dumbledore looked faintly amused, for some odd reason.

__

…to sever it's spine. They then faced a horde of frightened muggles, who were coming up with all many of odd theories. The muggle police had even tried arresting them. So, while they had 'won,' the ministry was aggravated. The Department of Accidental Magic Reversal couldn't be sure all the muggles had been obliviated.

Finally the messenger spoke up. She had been enthralled in the story, but now was the opportunity to deliver her message. "Headmaster, the muggles have broadcast footage of the attack on a news station. Apparently it's already being denounced; But the Minister would like to see you right away.

Everyone glanced at each other in alarm. Harry noted their reactions -alarmed, shocked, horrified, and Derrick was starting to look paranoidal.

Harry looked up and was startled to see Cho Chang. "Cho?" He remembered the last time he'd seen her, at graduation, the cold look she'd given him. He remembered to Cedric's funeral, the hate filled words she'd hurled at him. He unconsciously shrank into his chair slightly, resigned to whatever harsh sentiments she might be feeling. 

She looked at him, looking like she wanted to say something. At least she wasn't directing a dagger filled look at him, as she had in the past.

"Ms. Chang," Dumbledore broke in, standing up. "Harry, I will speak to you tomorrow." 

Harry stood, said a farewell to everyone, and followed Sirius out the door. "Are their Dementors anywhere around here?"

Sirius looked at him in concern "No, why?"

Harry shook his head, "Nevermind."

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No Reply: Yeah, my chapters are short. Sometimes it even aggravates me -but hey, I try to update often. And since I haven't updated in like a week before yesterday, I'll add another chapter.


	30. 29: Aureus Alley

The Burrow was still Harry's permanent home per se, but currently he was in a Phoenix safehouse. A week ago, he and Brian had been cornered by a group of Death Eaters, who had actually tried to _kidnap_ him. They had failed, do to some quick thinking; but that was a long story, and not entirely important in the scheme of things. So, due to Voldemort, Malfoy, and the goddamned press, he was here.

Harry was lying on a plain bed, sleeping. It was a tormented sleep, though he didn't show it much. No twisting, or turning. No anguished words or unintelligible shouts. Harry had trained himself not to make much noise, starting with the belligerent Dursleys and then certain irritated dorm mates. Even if he had been screaming, no one would have heard it do to his silencing charm. 

He'd fallen asleep three in the morning after he'd finally managed to turn himself into a hawk. He was relieved that he finally had, after all the work he had put into it. But he was also -curious, as there was no way he should have been able to so soon. It hadn't even been a year, had it?

Something made him awaken with sharp indrawn breath, and found himself staring into Remus' eyes. The other man looked vaguely concerned, as if he'd half -expected this to happen. 'This' being the wand at his throat. 

He and Sirius already knew about the nightmares that visited Harry.

Harry took his wand away with a sharp motion, freeing him. In a strained voice his said, "Sorry Moony."

The other man frowned, "A vision?"

"Yeah." He was almost shaking. God. Why'd he have to _see_ that? Just knowing that it had happened would haunt him for the rest of his life. Malfoy had had his revenge. 

He stilled his mind, turning his attention back to Remus; He was fully aware that he had to have an urgent reason for waking him up. Harry would just have to deal with -what happened- later.

Remus was watching at him as he stood up, "We're needed -they are going to raid Aureus Alley.

"Damn." That just happened to be *the* highscale alley. It would be filled the important, rich. Such as ministry officials, and the famous. Bloody fantastic.

Minutes later Harry was in the living room of the safehouse, trying to ignore his last vision. The rest of the people living in the place, about nine others, moved swiftly about. Their voices drifted through the house. "-the ministry?"

"Not enough time." 

"-should have good security right? I remember how those rich pompous bastards whining to the ministry-" Harry smirked at Cyre's voice; He was always rather vocal about anyone that irritated him. "-protecting their miserable asses-"

"-against Dementors?" The smile faded from his face. Whatever security they had wasn't going to be enough. Few could do an adequate Patronus- their security Aurors wouldn't do much good.

"Sweet Merlin." All of the witches and wizards would be rendered damn near helpless against the dementors, at Voldemort's mercy. Those that wouldn't be affected by the dementors for the most part would probably be useless at fighting.

Sirius addressed them, "Harry, Remus, Harvey and I are the only ones going. The rest of you are staying."

"Fuck that-"

"Shut it Cyre, we don't have time. The rest of you would be a liability, now follow Dumbledore's orders."

"Good luck then," said Maya, her face a bit drawn.

First they Apparated to the Order Mobilization Center. A place where everyone who was needed could get to quickly, grab whatever weapons they needed, and go. Witches and Wizards continued to arrive. Sirius conferred with Balistreri. "-south entrance-" Harry spotted Flitwick among the small group, but not many more he recognized.

"Harry!" Remus tossed him some chocolate and a shoved it in a pocket. Probably wouldn't do much good, considering what he was going to have to relive. Maybe he'd go insane and appease the expectant readers of Skeeter.

They wouldn't be able to apparate directly in, so most would have to apparate outside the alley and run. One of them had turned out to have a portkey, but it had a limited number of people it could transport. The Floo network would get them closer, but only transported them one at a time.

Harry listened, and decided. He went and grabbed a broom from a nearby storage closet.

Sirius, who was what amounted to Dumbledore's second in command, was assigning everyone based on their ability. "Harry, you take the portkey-" (Harry, being one of the wizards able to create a powerful Patronus, would need to be among the first to get to the scene of the attack.)

"No, let someone else, I have another way," Harry insisted. He could explain later -if this worked.

Sirius frowned slightly, "Fine." Then he shouted, "Get moving!"

Harry grabbed a broom and flew out the window. He then did something that no one else had done before. He apparated while on his broom. 

He could very well have splinched himself, but he'd just _known_ that he could do it. Maybe others would be able to as well. The idea did have possible uses… but he could ponder that later.

Soon he was speeding over the heads of the other witches and wizards who apparated. 

Over crowds of running people, who pushed against each other; They impeded the Order agents to the point where they had to resort to using magic to shove them out of the way. 

As he sped past the large, ornate buildings he started to feel the cold. Chilling him to his bones. He spotted Sirius and his group ahead. They'd formed a line amidst the choas, wands out, facing ahead. Where a swarm of black cloaked figures moved. From his vantage point, Harry could see Death Eaters far behind, waiting for the Dementors have their fun.

He landed and ran joined the line of the Order agents. The cold was making him shiver.

The memory he called up to hold back the screams was Sirius; Dancing around and singing after being declared free. "Expecto Patronum!"

His Patronus galloped toward the Dementors, and the stag's hooves beat down the dementor about to kiss a plump, middle aged man. He blinked in surprise that it had actually killed it._ "Kill the Spare."_

He called back his happy memories frantically. "Expecto Patronum!" A black dog joined the stag. "Expecto Patronum." As a lion joined them, the man standing next to him fell, moaning, "Not her, please, not her." There were just too many dementors.

Their line was breaking up, and his stag was fading. He could hear the same sounds he had dreamed before Remus woke him up. The Dursleys screaming. "Expect -Expecto Patronum." The guilt. 

__

"Admit it! It's your fault my boyfriend is dead! He'll never have the chance to grow up now, and you are the reason."

He dropped to his knees, not noticing the few tears trailing down his face. Through his own pain he saw Remus fall to a curse from behind, and twisted around. Death Eaters, behind them. _That_ was what was holding back their reinforcements.

__

"Enjoy your time at Azkaban Potter, and good luck getting a trial."

He decided it was time to try something he had only been theorizing about. He pushed himself to his feet. He couldn't help Remus right now, but maybe he could help everyone.

Sirius, Remus, Hermione, Ron, "Expecto Patronum." Dumbledore, Brian, Ariana, Hogwarts, "Expecto Patronum." Arabella, Hagrid, Flying, "Expecto Patronum." 

He started to glow. A faint white that steadily grew. He called his staff to him. And grasped in his hand. He heard a faint song, a beautiful song, the same song Natalia said she heard when she looked at him.

Clouds gathered and darkened overhead.

Continuing his litany, both mental and verbal, he stood. The phoenix feather in the crystal glowed atop his staff, a red and orange amongst the white. He closed his eyes and jerked as lightning struck.

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…Most worded chapter yet.


	31. 30: Aftermath

Remus was only aware of the pain in his stomach. The curse was slowly eating away at his intestines and it hurt like hell. He hadn't seen the curse coming, and it had hit him from behind. 

Far away, in a land beyond the numbing pain there was the sounds of battle. Yells, shouts, screams, cries.

Looks like he was finally biting the dust. He sincerely hoped Harry and Sirius got out of here alive. He felt a wave of cold wash over him, and remembered staring at the ruins of the Potter's house, disbelieving.

He really hated Dementors.

His limbs still worked, and he pushed himself onto his knees. He choked back a cry as it felt like wave of knives stabbed him in the stomach. After a moment he cracked his eyes open. Everything was confused, blurry, with too many people moving for him to focus.

He moved his arm, the wand clutching his wand, and pointed it at a Dementor. A figure walked up to him from his right side, black blur except for the white blur that would most likely be it's Death Eater mask.

He dimly felt the blow, before he hit the ground again.

He shifted in a futile effort to move; He lay there, trying to make sense of what his eyes were seeing.

His eyes were attracted to a bright white light, with a bright shimmering red in front of it, blending into the white. He closed his eyes against the sudden, blinding light; The pain becoming too much.

Then he felt a wave of peace, the kind of happiness that you can't fight against. Brief flitting images filled with joy, making him forget the pain. Then it was fading fast, and the pain returned with a vengeance. He lost consciousness.

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He moved around surreptitiously, doing what he could for the people lying in the street. After the wave hit, the Dementors weren't a problem. The Death Eaters were shocked and scared. Not everyday that they got a burst of wholesome, all encompassing joy. 

But the injured were still there.

A potion down this man's throat, a calming charm on this child. A woman lay there, her arm completely severed by a curse. Nothing he could do for her. A charm and a potion for a man who was petrified and had a deep gash across his chest. 

He moved to Remus. This unconscious man in tattered robes was dying. Among the wounded, they wouldn't have enough time to save him. He would die, and it would be a terrible blow. In the Order, it was an unmentioned feeling that they could very well lose best friends, siblings, parents even.

He put his hand on the thin werewolf's chest, and closed his eyes. Apparating wasn't the only way to get from one place to another. They literally faded out of the Alley and faded into another place.

Now they were in a white room, stocked with all manner of things. He levitated Remus onto a counter by the wall. He was going to have a long night ahead. After carefully coaxing the man into downing a series of potions, he began the real work. There was a reason it took years to learn healing spells. After this, he was going feel like a truck ran over him. Repeatedly. Maybe more like a train. And he already felt like he'd encountered a rampaging herd of Hippographs.

  
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The Hit Wizards arrived in time to bring down the last of the Death Eaters who hadn't fled. No buildings were aflame, but several were wrecked. Dementors, hundreds, lay unmoving on the ground, along with random debris and fallen people.

The senior Auror looked around and immediately went over to a man who had been caught in the attack. The nondescript man just so happened to be the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The man, Liam Forsyth, was bleeding from a wound on his cheek; He was also coldly surveying his surroundings.

"Sir."

"Bloody hell."

A curt nod. "Medical crews are on their way."

"Secure the area, and get someone from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Sir?"

Liam nodded his head towards the unicorn that was shying away from an approaching wizard. "I don't really know either. Move." He fully realized that if -whatever- hadn't happened he would either be dead or a captive of Voldemort.

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To be a unicorn. Peace. He could not think an unhappy thought. His bad memories faded and he lost himself… He _became_ the peace. 

He was in a place that smelled of _fear_, _anger_, and _pain_. He did not like it; It was contrary to his nature. 

A wizard tried approaching him and he shied away, growing panicked.

Escape. 

He galloped away, feeling his hooves bound against the street. He would find a forest, the natural earth, where he belonged.

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So, what do you look for in a story? I find myself drawn to dimension/time shifting stories, like 'Dimension Wander.' (I also read too much science fiction and fantasy). Bit there are those wonderfully written stories that I get stuck in, like 'HP and the Third Key' -which is at Schnoogle, or those angst filled and sad ones. (No, not the I'm-Harry-a-depressed-teenager-watch-me-turn-into-an-evil-mean-Slytherin ones). A really good example of a well written depressing fic would be 'Never Alone, Never Again.'

So, what do you look for?


	32. 31: Solutions

Hermione arrived at Dumbledore's office via the floo network just in time to here Ron was exclaim, "What do you mean!?" Hermione looked around the unique room to see Dumbledore, Sirius, Maya, Brian, McGonagall, Flitwick, and three people she did not know. Flitwick and Sirius looked like they'd been through a battle -dirty, tired. And, of course, they _had_. She'd read and listened to all the sketchy reports of the attack for about a day -maybe more; Her worry was making time pass oddly for her. Sirius was collapsed into a chair, bandages covering his entire right arm.

As came up beside Ron, felt a wave of apprehension, wondering. _Where is Harry?_

Dumbledore responded to Ron, "Mr. Weasley, Harry has tried something no one else has ever before, and I'm not sure entirely what."

"He was an irritatingly quick learner." 

Hermione glanced at the old woman, who looked as old as Dumbledore. She noted, with interest, the staff the woman carried. But she could wonder about that later. "Sir, if you could elaborate?"

Sirius answered. "Harry did something, some sort of Patronus. It killed all the Dementors, but then he turned into a unicorn."

"What!?" came from Ron.

Her mind worked furiously. "He told me he was close to becoming an animagus. Maybe, instead of turning into a hawk, he turned into a unicorn?"

"Where is he?" asked Ron.

"We don't know. As you know, unicorns don't generally approach humans at all. He bolted, and that is the last we saw of him."

Maya said, "We need to figure out what to do when we do find him."

Hermione chewed her lip. Unicorns…"He won't want to turn back. Unicorn's are pure and wonderful creatures right? He probably likes being one -maybe to the point where he is losing himself. They _can't_ think evil thoughts at all right?"

Ron was outraged, "Harry is not evil!"

McGonagall looked stern, "She is not saying that Mr. Weasley!"

"There is nothing we can do about it now. Hermione, I'd like you to keep working on the problem-" she nodded, because that was exactly what she intended to do -"And Ron, I'd like you to go to Aureas Alley and try to track down Remus."

Hermione's eyes went wide and she turned to Sirius. She saw the tightness in his face, the complete and utter lack of sleep. "Remus is missing?"

"I'm afraid so." She winced in sympathy for Sirius -both his godson and his best friend were missing after a battle. She grabbed Ron's hand, and he didn't protest.

One of the unknown men spoke up, "I'd like to return with Mr. Weasley."

Dumbledore nodded. "Sirius-"

"No."

"Mr. Black, now is not the time-" He was cut off by his office door bursting open with the arrival of two figures. One was dressed in black robes. The other in a new, blue robe, was leaning against him. 

Sirius jumped up from his chair. "Remus!!"

"Careful Padfoot, I'm still extremely dizzy."

"Can you get off me now?" _asked_ the man in black.

Remus transferred himself to Sirius, who helped him into a chair. "Sure. Thanks for the help by the way."

"Least I could do for a wandering idiot."

Dumbledore was watching Remus, "If you could explain how you got here?"

"A man took me and healed me -I was hit with the Edo Edi Essum curse and a couple of others-" Hermione gasped. Merlin's Beard, what wouldn't _they_ do to people?

Even Snape grimaced.

"-I'm quite alright now though. I couldn't ascertain quite how he did it; He was a cryptic man. I could sense him weaving his words…" Remus focused on Dumbledore, "He emphasized the words Recognosco Memoria, said it was a charm. Does anyone know what that is?"

Hermione vaguely remembered… "I do. It's for Amnesia patients. It recalls their memories."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Her eyes widened. "Harry! Don't you see, he will remember everything, even the things contrary to his frame of mind as a unicorn, and it _should_ force him to transform!"

"What happens if he doesn't?"

Hermione frowned. "I guess he remains a unicorn. I can't see how trying it would hurt him. -but it needs four people who have known the person for years."

Dumbledore looked around. "Ron, Hermione, Snape and I should do."

Sirius protested. "Snape!? What about Remus and I?"

"You are both injured, which reminds me that you need to either go to St. Mungo's, or down to the hospital wing. You pick." 

"I don't think I could make it to St. Mungo's," said Remus. Sirius quit arguing and decided to help his friend.

"Now, I believe we have a unicorn to find."

"I could probably help with that Albus," said the old woman.

"You think you are up to it?"

"Need I remind you that I'm younger then you are?" Hermione wondered just how old they both were, but didn't ask.

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Thanks to everyone that has reviewed -wow Ghost Dancer, high praise- they have given author the will to go on, and on, not to mention fuzzy feelings. And, dammit, I got another idea for a fanfiction. I'll wait though.


	33. 32: Rude Awakening

It was a primarily non-magical forest in which the unicorn found himself. He grazed in a mystical clearing, a magical place that was warm and green all year round. Muggles would never find it, regardless of how much they searched. Perhaps a magical child would find it one day, and run around over the fields, never to see it again. He could feel the life around him, the calm. The harmony of all the other animals living in the forest.

Then he heard a twig snap nearby, and he looked up unconcernedly. A black figure could be seen, not close enough to bother him. A brief spark of recognition lit his eyes before he forgot all about the man in the next instant.

He sensed several others near, and felt a twinge of anxiety. 

No, they were unimportant. 

Then a spell was cast on him; All his pervious stillness was gone as he twisted futilely. He was stuck in the spell, unable to get away. His panic increased as he sensed four foreign beings coming closer. 

They surrounded him. "Recognosco Memoria."

The flood of images, feelings, sounds, smells, thoughts, memories. It hurt. No -these were not his- but they were. This was _wrong_; He could not stay this way!

He became human again, as the only way he could deal with his memories.

Tears coursed down his face. The peace was gone. They joy. The happiness. The tranquility. Gone.

Life, memory. He remembered his life, shut in a cupboard believing he was worthless. He remembered the danger he'd put his friends in over and over. The things he'd seen -the nightmares, visions, gifts from hell. He remembered that he'd killed before, taken a life, snipped a thread, determined another's fate, snuffed out a soul.

After his previous state of bliss, these things seared his mind.

__

Why?

He passed out.

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__

Harry watched the unicorn pass through him; Watched it gallop away with longing. He turned into a hawk and flew away, away. The image faded away, and he found himself standing by a penseive. He heard a voice behind him, "So you're back to yourself."

He didn't respond, or even turn his head. The other asked, "How about a game of chess?"

He agreed, already knowing the outcome of the game. He played white, and the other black. Shortly, as many times before, the game was finished. 

"Ugh!" He exclaimed. "You are as bad as Ron!"

The other smiled, having accomplished 'snapping himself out of it.' 

"Don't worry, you *will* win against him someday, though not till you are old and decrepit." His eyes sparkled.

"I don't want to wake up."

"Remember that resolution you had never to give up?"

He sighed. "Yes."

"You are the leader your parents -combined- would have been. It sucks my friend, but you are what the world gets."

"Hmm. So I've got to wake up, inspire the world to keep fighting, bear all manner of mental and physical pain, then defeat Voldie and his Death Eaters."

"Yep."

"Oh, joy to the world."

"Indeed." They were already playing another game, and it was clear that the other man was winning. "Just remember that you can endure. Living is not pointless, not matter what the circumstances." Why did that sound like a warning?

"Is that statement directed at this situation or at something else."

"Something else. You will, unfortunately, find out what."

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When Harry woke up in a private room at Hogwarts, and saw Ariana sitting beside him. He stared at her for several minutes, wondering if he should just go back to sleep. 

He'd had another vision last night, that filled him with all the regular emotions he got after one. Rage, helplessness, sadness, anger, resentment, sorrow.

He really wanted to just ignore the world and go back to sleep. Well, that wasn't going to happen.

So he smirked. "Accio wand." From he knew not where, the wand flew into his hand. He pointed it at Ariana. Soon she woke of giggling. She couldn't stop her stop herself. "H-har-ry!" 

"Geez Ari, what wrong with you?"

Hysterical giggles. Soon Sirius and Remus, also patients in the hospital wing, were attracted by the noise. He noticed the door opening and saw the two enter. "Harry." Sirius enveloped him in a hug.

They all looked at Ariana, who was shrieking with laughter on the floor. "I-it's h-is f-fault! I k-k-know I-it is!"

"Me? I will have you know that I was rudely awoken from my blissfully unconscious state by your demented giggling."

"Ar- heh, heh, -rgh!"

"Harry," Remus chastised.

He made a face and removed the giggling charm. Ariana got up and smacked Harry on the arm. "What is all the noise!?" Madam Pomfrey showed up, appearing appalled. "Shoo!"

"But-" said Ariana.

"Get!"

"I want to know-" began Harry.

"Forget it young man!"

"How can you resist my puppy eyes?" asked Sirius.

She gave Sirius a cross look. Taking a potion from his bedside, she gave it to Harry and closed the curtains around his bed. "You, Mister Black, may either get out or get in bed."

"Woman, if I leave you won't let me back in to see Harry, admit it!"

"Well then, get in bed!"

He drank the potion and slunk back into oblivion.

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I am thinking about letting you know about what happened in the older Harry's world. But it won't be shown for a good five chapters... I haven't written beyond that yet, so it might even be a few more.


	34. 33: Moving On

The next time he woke up, Sirius and Remus were waiting beside him, already having been released. Sirius was sleeping, so Remus quietly said, "Hey Harry."

"Hey Remus," he said, sitting up.

"You alright?"

"Sure." Remus was looking at him doubtfully, so he added, "-as can be." He didn't really want to dwell on it -because he felt awful. "What happened anyway, did it work?"

"You planned that?"

"Yeah, but did it work?"

The other man nodded. "I was.. injured -but I remember a bright light, and a feeling of peace." Harry grinned; Then frowned. "Injured?"

Remus waved it off and said, "I'm fine. They said you turned into a unicorn…? Harry just gave him a look that indicated he knew the man was trying to put him off the subject.

Harry noticed some movement and looked to see Dumbledore walking in, "Hello, sir."

"Harry. Please continue."

He could tell Dumbledore was mightily curious himself, but hiding it. "It was side effect I hadn't planned on. I had just managed to turn into a Hawk before I went to sleep… I believe that has something to do with it. But I can't have two animagus forms, can I? So it must just have been the spell."

"It _was_ a rather impressive feat Harry. I believe it is now being referred to as the 'Lightning Patronus.' And, have you considered, that maybe you _can_ have more than one animagus form?"

Well, no. It was impossible -but here Dumbledore was, implying that it wasn't. He would test that out later… 

As Remus asked Dumbledore what time it was, he moved his legs over the side of the bed. "Nearly midday…" Dumbledore trailed off as he noticed Harry getting up, and raised an eyebrow.

Remus watched and said, "Padfoot's going to try to shove you back in bed, you know…"

"Well don't wake him up then." 

As he tried to move past the chair containing his godfather, an arm shot out and grabbed his. Without opening his eyes, Sirius said, "Nice try Harry."

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Harry walked down one of the rows between two of the incredibly long tables. The Great Hall was rapidly filling with children, the noise was somewhat of a shock after being in the hospital wing. He had convinced Sirius, after 'a while' to let him leave the hospital wing. After that, they had to smuggle him out under Madam Pomfrey and the other doctor's noses. He'd bumped into a student who had sparks coming out of his nose, but the kid just frowned and looked around.

He walked up to the long staff table and sat between Sirius and Remus. After all the sleepy students had filled the hall, he slowly started into his food. He was in the middle of a sentence when he saw a flash. He paused. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that."

Snape, who had been ignoring the three from his position a couple chairs down from Harry across the table, said "What do you expect Potter? Creevy is climbing the walls with joy that you are receiving another award." Was it Harry, or was that more benign then it could have been?

Ah, that lovely sinking feeling. "Award?"

"You didn't know!?" asked the woman across from him, with only a light hint of her Irish accent.

"No…"

Remus and Sirius had exchanged smirks. "Sorry Harry, looks like you've got another Order of Merlin, second class this time."

__

"Why?" asked the Lord of the Dumb Questions

"Come on Harry, you saved an entire alley full of 'important' people, not to mention the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement…"

Harry dropped his fork. "Oh." He expected a snide comment from Snape about now, but none came. So instead he listened to the talk, and one particular conversation caught his notice.

"Did you here about what Weasley did?"

"That seventh year?"

"Apparently she promised the twins -her brothers- to play a prank for them." Harry tried not to grin -he'd help her plan it…

"So _she_ is the one that turned the Great Hall's floor into ice last week?"

"Are you serious?" Harry grinned. He'd gotten Colin to take pictures for him… he liked to call them 'Wizard's on Ice.'

He quit listening when he heard Sirius say, "Enough Harry? -Geez, are you pregnant or something?"

He looked at his plate and realized that he'd just eaten a boatload of chocolate. Now, he really did eat a lot, but he did not normally consume massive quantities of chocolate.

"You are one to talk about eating habits, _Padfoot_." Sirius put his hands in front of him in surrender as Remus snorted.

He eyes caught Ginny's and he smiled at her. She grinned back, somehow figuring that he'd heard about the prank. Then the charms professor for the lower grades took the chance to question him. "Where did you get the idea for the Lightning Patronus?" the man asked, eagerly sitting forward in his chair.

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After the meeting Dumbledore shuffled though the papers in front of him. Harry, Daelin, Arthur, and Hermione had put forth several ideas for using muggle technology. Their proposals left much to consider…

He glanced up as Harry approached him. "Sir, I need to visit someplace later -just thought I'd let you know." He tried to keep his face blank, but Dumbledore sensed his feelings anyway.

"Where?"

"-the Dursleys." 

Dumbledore knew that this was a touchy subject with Harry, that he hadn't liked the Dursleys. He had been perfectly willing to go through all manner of training during the summer, rather than stay with them. Which made him wonder why Harry would want to go there. "May I ask why?"

"They are -dead." 

He stopped shuffling the papers in front of him. "When?" he asked.

"Before the attack in Aureus Alley. Malfoy and his cronies caught up with them.

"Harry." came the stricken voice of Ronald Weasley, who along with Hermione was now standing beside Harry, waiting to talk to him. 

Harry turned and looked at them. "Yeah."

Dumbledore resisted the urge to sigh. This had to have happened right before he faced the Dementors, and Harry still managed to defeat his own bad memories to fight them. "I see. Just take someone with you, if you would. They may be watching."

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Not the most action filled chapter, I know, but I needed the follow up -And so, I shall post another chapter tomorrow.

In case you are wondering, he's at Hogwarts for two reasons: security and familiarity.

…and I'm in the middle of writing chapters 37-40.


	35. 34: Circling

Being at Hogwarts again was doing Harry good. It was strange, but good. Strange because he only really knew some of the seventh years- A few of the younger ones through the Lightning house too. All the students looked so much younger…

In any case, he'd been given his own room for the week. Then he'd be off to live… somewhere. 

So it was that he was wandering the halls. Past portraits and armors, around corners and over staircases. He had spent last night and this morning in Dumbledore's office, researching -not in the school library, but in Dumbledore's. The Headmaster had finally seen fit to kick him out.

So he'd written a few letters. 

Ron was well into his training, and doing quite well apparently. Not that that was a surprise -after all the Trio had been through. Ron said he was getting accelerated training, so he would probably graduate earlier.

Hermione had turned down an offer to go to Quaestio Nam Scientiam. It was an… academy, sort of, but students could be teachers and vice versa. It was more of a community. He'd truly been amazed that she'd turned down the opportunity to go. She'd only said that she had business here. 

He had a feeling that his friends were not going to leave, even for a short time, until Voldemort was dead.

The full moon was tonight, and he hoped Remus would be alright. He'd left for Germany on a mission, and who knew where he was.

Sirius was doing some surveillance with Brian.

On his way back from the gallery, he'd been hit by a load of nostalgia. So, ignoring the cold in his face, this chill in his feet, and his frozen arms, he wandered. 

His thoughts were not wandering. Circling more like.

Something was wrong with him, not quite right. He was almost reliving his bad memories. When he sat in a comfortable chair and closed his eyes. When he lay in bed after waking up. When he sat, eating by himself. When he stopped paying attention to what he was reading.

And it was all too real.

He would find himself thinking about something, which would lead to thinking about something depressing, and on to one of the many times of danger in his life. Like now, when he was cosistantly fighting. Which remeinded him of Remus. The man had nearly _died._ Remus could be dead right now. Like the Dursleys. They had told everyone he had run away; When he'd gone to the house he'd seen a for sale sign. He'd ruined their lives from the first -they would have been far happier without him existing- and gotten them killed in the last.

He didn't sleep much -but then he never did usually. Nightmares and visions. But it _was_ worse now. He'd taken to drinking coffee. He did eat though -he needed to. He exercised, both mentally and physically, too much not to.

He decided to walk down to Hogsmead, and didn't bother getting a cloak. He was already freezing to death. He'd probably drop by to see Malik too -the man always had something to teach. He reminded Harry of Dumbledore actually, just younger. 

He nodded to an Auror as he left the Entrance Hall, into the wind. 

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It was night, and the full moon shone brightly. 

Through a dark forest, a large group traveled. All of them were humanoid; They were slender, and had pointed ears. Each had their own shade of -blue and green for the most part- color, most often just a light tinge. There were various different hair colors, silver even.

The group traveled on foot, disdaining the weakness of using horses. They wore many different things -mostly close fitting leather-like outfits. There were some in beautiful outfits, but nothing impracticable. 

They moved swiftly though the forest. They were graceful and fast; Never did one stumble or trip on a branch, despite the speed. They carried what they needed, though they had no doubt shrunk some of their things; They carried nothing that would be an encumbrance.

They were headed for a certain school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They would examine the situation in the human's world, and ascertain whether or not to get involved. They would have gone to the ministry, but the location was not disclosed, so instead they had been invited to Hogwarts. 

To be more precise, they were headed for the Forbidden Forest. It was neutral ground, and more to their liking.

What the elves didn't know was that a human followed. Invisible -and by no ordinary means, as they had ways of detecting such things. All elves had a slight _feel,_ if you can understand, for their surroundings. Kind of like empathy. 

But this human knew well how to hide himself, in every way.

He moved at the same speed they did, having lived with elves at one point in his life. 

If they were to discover him, the elves would not be pleased. They may have been lucky that he was following them, but they certainly did not know it.

There was a change, scarcely noticeable. All of the elves became yet more watchful, eyes darting around. It seemed that that were listening to every single noise that passed through the forest.

They glanced at each other, and several gestures were made. They moved more careful now, slowing their pace, darting between trees.

They began to hear snarls, growls.

Dark shapes surrounded them, circling.

One of the aforementioned shapes lunged at an elf at the edge of the group, tearing into it. The elf whipped out a length of gleaming silver. The werewolf scrambled away with a slash on it's arm, whimpering. The elf waved his hands around and shouted as another made an approach. The werewolf let out a howl and fell to the ground. 

Other sounds of struggle joined that particular elf's. Then the ground heaved as something crashed towards them battle.

Several somethings.

Giants.

The older Harry joined the fray. He became a spinning whirlwind of movement, radiating magic.

He now knew why the elves had never shown up in his timeline.


	36. 35: The Elves' Interlude

Harry was musing over the conversation he'd had with a clerk of Malik's yesterday as the dawn brightened the room via a large window behind him. 

Malik himself hadn't been there, yesterday, and his clerk was running the store for him. This wasn't the first time he hadn't been there -Harry didn't that at all odd. No it was something the clerk said… that Malik kept the oddest hours. Sometime days he was there, a lot of the time he wasn't. Furthermore, there were some weapons he wouldn't let the clerk sell, even though they were on display with the rest…

His thoughts stilled suddenly as he felt something, and froze. He didn't have time to figure out what he had felt, before he heard a voice greet him. 

He looked over to see the venerable Headmaster. "Sir." 

He looked back to the door, which he had been facing and repressed of smile. He figured out what he'd felt. "How nice it is to _see_ you."

Dumbledore was looking as he usually did, figuratively screaming wizard, with magnificent robes and a pointed hat. "As I just received word that the elves have arrived, I thought I might gather those intrepid souls who were willing, and go meet them.

He was delighted at the idea, "Sure." The wizarding world had had a few bad relations with the elves, and rare good encounters over the ages. Mostly, they were unknown, which scared people, but interested Harry. 

Dumbledore, McGonagall, and two Aurors, and he himself met in the entrance hall. He would have thought that Snape would come -but then he remembered the man's dislike of 'creatures.' Elves probably were in the same category of non-human as werewolves, after all.

They walked to the forbidden forest, and were greeted at the edge by an elf. She indicated that they should follow, and they did so.

The elves had already set up a 'home' for themselves. Harry looked around, absorbing the sight. They did indeed have structures in the trees. He marveled at how they seemed to blend with the surroundings.

They, however, did not have to go 'climbing.' They were led to a small building, constructed around several trees. Inside was a meeting hall, with elves already present within.

The headmaster took the lead. "Albus Dumbledore." He made a gesture with his hand and the elf directly in front of him nodded. The elf was slightly green, with light blue hair, and he wore clothing which Harry had never seen before. Dumbledore continued, stating each of their names, not using any titles.

The elf followed suit. "I am Lithon." He gestured to his left, "Kalien. Fresair." He gestured to his right, "Storlin, Werndre."

Dumbledore said. "I welcome you and all your companions to Hogwarts."

"We accept your welcome and welcome you to our camp in return."

"I accept your welcome. May we sit?" Dumbledore received a nod, and they all sat.

The elf who had introduced the rest, Lithon, started. "We have come to observe."

"I hope you do, and report back all you see. Voldemort is gaining far too much strength, and you will not remain unaffected."

"We have begun to realize that. On the way here, we were attacked, and could very easily be dead right now."

"Was it you who sent the human who fought with us?" asked the female elf named Werndre. As she asked, she looked straight at Harry, and he found himself a bit unnerved.

The Headmaster answered. "No, as you know, I did not know when or where you would be arriving."

Harry felt something odd from the elves -he wasn't sure what though. 

Fresair spoke up, "Do you know of him?"

"Perhaps. Could you give us more information?"

Lithon obligingly told them of how the man had fought beside them. Apparently, he may have made the difference in favor of their survival.

Harry answered, "Yes, we have had reports of a -man, fighting independently against Voldemort."

Dumbledore said, "We know not much more of him than you do, though we have tried to make overtures."

Lithon nodded and turned to different matters. "We wish to hear what you have to tell of Voldemort. We will want first hand accounts -would you permit a few of us to join your ranks for observation?"

One of the Aurors spoke up, "It's not exactly that easy. With the sporadic danger involved your observer may very well be injured or killed."

"We understand the possibilities."

The other Auror answered after a glance at Dumbledore. "Very well then. Send them to the castle, and we will arrange something."

McGonagall asked, "You do realize that Voldemort attacking Hogwarts at some point is always a likely possibility. You will be in his path."

"If Voldemort does attack this _school_, then all the better that we should stand in the way," said Lithon.

Storlin was watching Harry. "Did you know that you had a bit of elven ancestry?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "N- no. My mother was a muggle born."

"Muggleborn?"

The Headmaster said, "her parents were muggles -those without magic."

"Ah." Harry wondered if there _were _any elves without magic.

Despite his curiosity over the matter, the conversation moved on.

Lithon looked into Dumbledore's eyes. "Now, tell us of Voldemort."

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Realistic elves? 

I'm going to try to add more darkness to the fic, as it is set during a wartime; After the next chapter, things start to roll along faster.


	37. 36: Damn Voldemort

Amidst the kaleidoscope of red, gold, brown (mostly) and green, Harry spotted a dim shadow, of a figure in black. An invisible Death Eater. Not only did they really need new uniforms, but Harry could see the invisible. The man was moving slowly, waving his wand around, using detection charms.

The wall around Hogsmead wall tall, and was manned with Aurors. They would watch through angled niches, for Death Eaters and refugees. No longer could you just apparate in.

In addition, there were traps set all around the -city, you could call it now. Voldemort would send Death Eaters in every once in a while, just to keep them on guard. They weren't always caught by a trap -the circumference of Hogsmead made the traps partially ineffective, as there was a good chance a Death Eater could pass through without encountering one. When they did, they tried to pick off the Aurors manning the wall.

So Harry, in his invisibility cloak, was hunting for them. He hadn't shared the fact that he could see through invisibility charms, potions, and cloaks with anyone. He's only realized it himself after a chance look into a mirror while wearing his cloak.

The Death Eater didn't see him coming. "Expelliarmus." The man flew a good twenty feet. When Harry reached him he was struggling to stand up. Harry resisted the urge to punch him, "Stupefy."

As Harry took out a small chunk of chocolate, the snake that had been keeping him company the past several days slithered up to him, hissing.

__

"This is an evil man that you were talking about before?"

"Yep." Harry hissed back.

"You will be going now?"

"Yes, to turn him in."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to make sure that he is tried for -that he is punished."

"May I come?"

Harry smiled, "You want me to let you, a dangerous and poison snake, stay in close contact with me for days on end?"

__

"I'll try not to bite you. No promises." Harry wasn't sure he was joking, because he wasn't even sure snakes had a sense of humor.

He put his hand on the ground and Viridian slithered on, going up his arm and into his shirt. Harry shivered as he bound the Death Eater and levitated him, although he found the Viridian warmed up quickly. It _was_ really cold, although the warming charm was helping.

Hopefully, this Death Eater might know where a kidnapped witch or wizard was, the location of a training center, identities of fellow Death Eaters, or any other bit of information that might be useful.

After Harry had turned him over to another Order member, who was in charge of prisoners, he went back to the large, sprawling house his now lived in with about twenty others. He had learned how to cook with magic, thanks to Remus, and before long him was devouring lunch. He spotted a Chronicle next to him and scanned over it. He and Hermione had come up with the idea of the Phoenix Chronicle's. The newspapers were full of hysteria and half truths. Editors feared Voldemort; Hell, some of the reporters were probably on Voldemort's side.

So the Phoenix Chronicles distributed reliable information on the war. Such as where Voldemort attacked, who was missing, who was confirmed as dead. Some inspirational stories. 

Halfway through Sirius showed up. "Harry, how'd you morning go?"

"I caught one this morning -it wasn't very hard. He was young too. Voldemort been sending the new recruits and the unuseful." 

"Figures. Although, you don't have much a right to call anyone young."

Harry rolled his eyes.

Sirius smirked and said, "Dumbledore wants to see us in a couple days."

"About what?"

"He's going to have a meeting to address what Voldemort's activities in other country's. Arthur can't make it though, he's sending an assistant." Ad Sirius bit into a sandwich, Harry wondered what Dumbledore would want him there for. "How's Ron?"

"They are trying to teach them the killing curse, and it's getting a bit ugly. Some or the trainees are having major problems with it and the teachers are getting harsh. Some of them just _can't_ do it."

"I remember when I was in Auror training."

"You ever going to agree to go back?"

Sirius' eyes dulled a bit, "Maybe." Harry could tell he was remembering Azkaban; Sirius would carry that experience forever. Harry was distracted from observing Sirius by a noise. It was the signal that an owl was coming; They had had to set of wards to check them after Voldemort had repeatedly tried curse/poison/traumatize Harry with letters. He probably knew that Harry wasn't dumb enough not to check it before opening it, but he'd tried it anyway. Such a nice man.

He opened the window and looked at the letter. The black seal, which they only sent with notices of death. He read the letter, for it had been addressed to him. After several minutes Sirius asked, "what is it?" 

In a dead voice, "Charlie. Voldemort attacked Romania, and killed most of the people working with the dragons. Must have plans for them." Harry just kept standing there. Why'd it have to happen to the Weasley's? They had already lost a cousin when his patrol was attacked.

Harry always knew it could happen but it was a shock all the same. How must Molly and Arthur be feeling, Ron? He ground his teeth together. _Damn Voldemort. _Cursing the old bastard didn't make Harry feel any better.

Sirius grabbed the letter from him and read it; Then crumpled it and slammed his fist into the wall.

Later that night, Harry stepped into a fireplace full of green flames, and arrived at the Burrow.

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Older flashback in the next chapter :)


	38. 37: Charlie

The older Harry stood over a large magical map, planning; It was definitely not your regular 2D map. As he noted changes, he recalled the news of the attack in Romania with concern. Voldemort _had_ attacked Romania in his timeline, though much later. 

He was fairly certain he knew why Voldemort had changed his plans. This time, he was going to use the dragons for another purpose, one of which Harry would see the failure of.

Charlie's death, though, had not happened in the other attack, from his timeline. Instead, someone close to the man had died, and it had not affected him well.

__

Slightly drunk, the older red haired man spoke. "I did tell her, you know. But I want to tell her again. She was wonderful."

Harry looked at Charlie with sympathy. "Ron wanted me to see where you went, he said he needed someone for Fred and George to mess with instead, and that if you were his brother you would come to his defense."

The man chose not to listen. "Do you understand?"

Harry did. Ginny, while not dead, was lost to him. She was here even, at the wedding, but with him. 

He had let her go, long ago.

He gently took hold of the other man's arm and led him back inside. "Come on Charlie."

Back inside, it was festively lighted. Many were dancing, talking, drinking. He nodded to Ron, who glanced in their direction, to let him know that he had found Charlie. 

He steered Charlie over to a table and set about trying to sober him up. He didn't want Ron to worry about it; This was his best friend's wedding, and he was the best man. He checked to make sure that Ron was letting him handle it as promised, and smiled when he saw him in the middle of a kiss with Hermione. She was beautiful today.

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Charlie's funeral.

He was at Charlie's funeral.

The whispers had gotten harder to ignore. Not that anyone else heard them. Maybe he was having some sort of breakdown… which was not an option.

Harry now resisted the urge to look around for dementors.

The entire Weasley family was here, along with Hermione, Angelina, and Katie; Former teachers of his -Dumbledore was here. Sirius would have come, but he had to deal with something. Harry had gotten a vision regarding an assassination plot, and Sirius was taking care of it. Harry _had_ gotten a very short letter from Sirius this morning, a few sentences to let Harry know what was going on. There was something bigger involved -the man who was scheduled to be assassinated had been _working_ for Voldemort. The man knew something -and the knew not what. Sirius was tracking the man around Indonesia.

He finally realized just how many Weasleys there were -cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, parents, children. He was seeing a lot of red. He spotted several co-workers of Charlie's -he could tell because most wore dragon's teeth somewhere. A lot of them had stories to tell, about Charlie. Kira told about when she had gone inside one the Dragon pens, and gotten knocked over. Charlie had run in after her and drug her out.

Then there were the stories about Quidditch, or those from his schooldays.

Ron told about first year, about Norbert. It turns out Norbert prospered in Romania -and was one of the few that escaped capture during the attack. He had gotten free, however, and was now… somewhere.

Harry saw a man scribbling notes down -a reporter. 

It was bloody cold. It had even snowed yesterday, leaving the landscape a sea of white.

Harry recalled the meeting he had gone to with Dumbledore…

The attack in Romania was the beginning of a series of raids in the following days. Voldemort just kept attacking, putting his multitude of magical creatures to work. And he was spreading out far and wide.

Voldemort had attacked or was well on his way to taking over Mauritania, Algeria, Chad, and several smaller coastal countries in Africa. Argentina and Paraguay in South America. In Asia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, and Mongolia. Islands were the major victims, as they were small and easy to control. Tasmania, Mindanao, Luzon, Java, Sumatra, Honshu, Borneo. Mostly he'd left Canadian and Caribbean islands alone.

It seemed he was aiming to create chaos

His raids produced more Vampires and werewolves (though it should be noted that not all went to his side). Furthermore, they left many soulless victims. Many muggles were tortured and killed. Many witches and wizards were taken prisoner, some tortured into serving Voldemort.

And the orphans. Magical or muggle, Death Eater parents or not, they were innocents.

Voldemort had not aimed any major attacks any major countries yet besides France, and of course England. Dumbledore was going to attend a meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards in Italy; He was going to petition them to unite against Voldemort. He had also invited Harry along.

After the meeting, Harry had been leaving the school when Snape caught up with him. A couple insults later, Snape had told hi, this: Last time someone mentioned Harry's name in front of Voldemort, he had smirked. He had said that Harry ;would soon know the meaning of horror.' Now, Voldemort had said many things similar to that, and quite often. But generally in a cold, malicious tone of voice. The 'man' rarely _smirked._

One thing you should know about Voldemort -he doesn't celebrate his successes early. He plots, and he plots meticulously -there is often a contingency plan. Hence his irritation when Harry screws his plans up.

What does this mean? Voldemort had some surefire way of tormenting him. And he had an bad feeling it wasn't Charlie's death.

Harry walked behind as the pallbearers walked Charlie's coffin to his soon-to-be grave. As his feet crunched into the snow, he saw a flash; The reporter was taking pictures.

He stood beside Ron and Hermione, who had their arms around each other's waist.

Dumbledore now made ready to speak. He was the natural choice for making a speech -though Harry knew it was hard for him. The Headmaster was damned _good_ at speeches, but that did not make it any less painful. 

Painful.

His scar was throbbing, and the pain was intensifying. He stopped breathing for a moment when he realized-

"Sir!" he called out to Dumbledore, who looked at his face and immediately understood.

*******************************************

Flashback TBC! -I'm thinking about doing a summary of the story so far, since it's becoming a bit long and you've probably forgotten stuff considering most people read many fanfics. YAY or NAY?

I really owe Enialedam for all the encouragement -thank you

*Dances around* Polaris started the prequel to Dangers in the Past! If you like this fic even a little, you will LOVE that story.

….And I'm goin' on vacation, so it might be a littlewhile to the next chapter.


	39. Brief Summary

Since I've been gone for ever so long, I thought I'd start with the brief summary (and a couple review replies.)

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Temporary Insanity: Prophecy? What author? 

Ides of March: I don't know if you've read this far yet -but in response to your review for chapter 28… never heard of the Echorium Sequence -what is it? I'm not sure where I got it; I read a _Lot_ of science fiction and fantasy books… must be from somewhere… (I noticed that you write Erised. Like your story quite a bit by the way.)

Wohoo, A summary we a go.

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I shall start with the younger Harry. 

This fic starts midyear. Harry is older now (than in say, book 4), and has had a great deal of extra training in magic. The school is much changed -larger, with an additional house called Lightning. (A testament to how much Harry is still looked up to.) He, Ron, Herm, and a new friend named Brian are all a part of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry still gets nasty visions.

On a disastrous mission to Norway, Arabella dies. We (You) never found out what was in that box she died for. Harry uses the killing curse on the elder Malfoy to save his godfather.

Graduation. Afterwards, Harry is fully immersed in the war. Missions, assignments, safehouses. He continues to practice and learn magic. _Malik_ trains him in combat, Natalia shows him a new form of magic.

At Aureas Alley, there is a deatheater attack, consisting mainly of Dementors. Harry shows his skill, power, ingenuity, and hard work by demonstrating an entirely new spell that kills all the Dementors. An interesting side effect though, being turned into a unicorn.

Remus would have died if not for _someone's_ interference.

In a devastating attack with an unclear purpose, Charlie Weasley is killed.

The story continues……

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The older Harry.

What do we (you) know about him? He has been fighting all his life; After Voldemort was defeated, new evils arose. We know that he is even more skilled/powerful. We know that he continues to receive visions, despite Voldemort's annihilation. Ron and Hermione are both dead.

We don't know what the mysterious women who created the time portal wanted with the past. We do not know that state of the wizarding world in his time. And just how much older is he?

In the beginning of the story, he is thrust into the past. He contacts no one. He sets up his own safehouses, creates many identities, and begins his own war against Voldemort. He uses various means to keep himself unknown; Both the Order and Voldemort have tried to corner him to no avail.

We don't know his past; We don't know what foreknowledge he has.

Currently in the story, the death of Charlie has triggered a flashback, and the story continues…

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…any Questions?


	40. 38: Interruptions

life: Salute New chapter right here (Sir/Ma'am)!

Temporary Insanity: Sorry about that, I got you confused with Ides of March -and thank you, I was worried that it was badly written.

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Ron was glad Hermione was here. It was just so hard to lose a brother -Ron hadn't even seen Charlie in a while, because of him training. He wanted to cry -but he wouldn't.

He numbly watched Dumbledore start his speech, only to be interrupted by Harry's, "Sir!" Harry's pallid face was alert, and conveyed urgency.

Ron saw the look that passed between them.

Voldemort was coming. How dare they? _At his brother's funeral._ He gritted his teeth in fury.

He and Hermione detached themselves as the Aurors moved to form a circle around everyone. Dumbledore's voice rang out, "Everyone, we need to leave right now. Voldemort is coming; Gather around, _quickly_."

Those who had been watching in confusion now let out cries of terror, their eyes widening in shock and terror.

Aurors hurriedly handed out portkeys, and Ron watched as groups disappeared. He went to stand behind Harry, and they watched dark clocked figures approach. He grabbed Harry's shoulder, "We need to apparate!"

His best friend shook his head, "Too late -they have one of their portable apparition barriers."

__

Oh hell.

He looked back -Bill, the twins, Percy, Ginny, and his father were still here, surrounded by bodyguards; Dumbledore had remained with them. They were making sure everyone else got out; There just wasn't enough time. 

He strode over to them, "Dad, we need to _get you out of here_." He ignored the frantic conversations nearby; He was in training as an Auror, and his father was the Minister of Magic. They could not afford for him to be captured.

Aurors were taking cover among the gravestones, and preparing themselves. Mr. Weasley looked at his youngest son, "There aren't anymore portkeys."

"I'm afraid we have no choice; Some of us are going to have to make a stand. Arthur, you are going to have to take the rest and retreat to the edge of the graveyard as fast as you can." Ron considered this -they would have to move in waves, two waves covering while the last retreated, and switching constantly if they wanted to move fast. His father looked as grave as Ron had ever seen, knowing that as the minister he _could not_ be captured by Voldemort.

Hermione moved passed him and grabbed his father's arm. Ron frowned at the intense look on her face -she was preparing for something. "Everyone over here!" 

"Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore questioned? She said "I'm going to need your help," and began chanting, holding up an amulet. Dumbledore seemed to understand, as he reached over and grabbed the amulet, starting the chant himself.

Ron watched her, "Hermione -what?" But she didn't respond, and he trusted her. He would leave her be to do whatever she was doing, no doubt saving their asses.

Harry stood at the edge of the group, partially behind a tall gravestone. He was with a group of Aurors and a few able guests that had remained behind to provide what defense they could. Light had just begun flashing between the groups. 

Ron quickly ran over to join his best friend. A few feet away from Harry he had to stop and yell out a counter charm for a nasty hex headed his way,

He moved up beside Harry. "Hermione's doing something -we need to buy her time."

"Right," Harry responded.

Ron didn't see Percy move of behind them. 

Harry's wand flew from his fingers and he automatically twisted, punched Percy, and reclaimed his wand; Before he even identified his attacker. He had Ron's brother's arm twisted behind him so that he could not move.

"Percy!" Ron screamed, utterly furious. First Charlie dies and now Percy turns traitor?

Then Percy used his legs to shove himself and Harry out of the forming circle of magic.

Only, the barrier became solid enough in time to push Percy back.

…And Harry was locked outside the circle.

He heard Ginny's voice, yelling something.

Ron turned and yelled out to Harry, who was in the middle of cursing a Death Eater.

The raven haired man only looked at Ron and shook his head.

Damn it! He moved towards Harry to help, but found himself repulsed by the barrier. He yelled, "Hermione! Let me out!" but got no response.

He turned on Percy, who was just standing their, and pummeled him into unconsciousness. Bill pulled him off, and Ron screamed, "He pushed Harry outside!"

Bill looked for himself, shock written across his face, which soon turned to horror and disgust. 

Harry was stuck on the other side. Ron punched the barrier in frustration.

Everything went black

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__

After taking care of Charlie, Harry looked around. There were a lot of people here; Ron and Hermione were quite well known, even apart from there association with Harry. 

They had put their wedding off until after the war, which surprised Harry; He had never thought they would be able to wait that long, what with the threat of imminent death. They had lived together, but were holding off on the children until the were married.

He spotted Ginny, talking to someone he vaguely recognized, and then made himself look away. He did talk to Ginny on occasion, she being one of Hermione's best friends. Ginny had never joined the order, although she had kept her ties to Hogwarts. She had become a teacher there; Hogwarts positions were very prestigious, though some were too afraid to accept them. 

Hogwarts was now partially in ruins, and the school had been moved. It was very much changed from what he remembered. Gone were the Houses. Hell, they even taught subjects differently.

She wanted to rebuild the old Hogwarts though, and had sought him out to help. He had readily agreed.

He felt Sirius approach him from behind, then Sirius' good hand on his shoulder. "They certainly look happy."

Harry grinned, "I have a feeling I'm going to have godchildren soon."

"You poor man." The man snickered at the look Harry sent him. "Your toast was almost as good as mine at your parents wedding." 

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks." He had gotten used to making speeches, so it hadn't been to hard. He'd had qualms about mentioning Percy; He had disappeared during the war, but had mentioned him anyway. "How is Remus?"

His godfather's face tightened slightly. "All right. Mostly." Remus, as a high profile figure, had become the occasional target of werewolf haters. They had always been hated and feared, greatly so after the war. All his friends and Harry himself had advocated for Remus, which had made a major difference. But Remus, knowing full well that he had so much more than other werewolves, had set out to change things. "He mentioned an idea for a werewolf school. So many of them have little or no education…"

"Do you think that would work?"

"I-" Sirius frowned at something, and Harry turned to look. 

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That flashback will be continued through a couple chapters.


	41. 39: Hard Places

He didn't even have to time to spare for a curse. (Verbally)

He didn't have much time to think either, as he yelled out curses.

Everyone else had gotten out, except those who had been hit with the killing curse or something as damaging.

Percy had betrayed him -them.

He was in deep shit.

And he couldn't apparate.

He crouched above the frozen ground, listening. They had stopped shooting curses, though he did not sense anyone trying to sneak up on him.

"Potter! You are surrounded, you can't get out, and you can't take all of us -despite what you might believe. I would _suggest_ that you take your Gryffindore nature of shove it. The Master will be here soon." That voice, familiar -Malfoy.

If he was probably going to die, he might as well fight. If he could hold out until Voldemort arrived…

He shot a curse in the direction he heard the voice come from. 

He could almost feel Malfoy's glee as a spell blew up to gravestone he was currently crouching behind.

***********************************************************************

His old classmate Seamus, now divorced with a couple children, was stumbling around. Harry could tell the he was feeling something odd, but what he did not know. As Seamus fell, Harry and Sirius moved to him and knelt.

Harry put his hands over the man, ignoring the noise around him, and when he opened his eyes he looked into Ron's face, "It's Coactum Haero."

"What is it?"

He saw Hermione frown. She wouldn't know of it -it hadn't been used in England or any nearby countries as far as he knew, but she knew Latin, and was puzzeling it out. Harry about it due to some connections he had -he belonged to the Dark Force Defense League even. He would have never thought he would after Lockheart, but it had turned out to be mildly useful.

"A spell that spreads," Harry said as he stood. "Nobody Touch Him!"

"What can we do?" asked Sirius

"We need to get everyone out of here. I don't know how many people Seamus has already touched, or who they touched -and whoever set this spell in motion is probably coming to clean up." 

"Ron," he heard Hermione say, as another guest fell. She had her wand in hand, and incanted something over Seamus, then pursed her lips and nothing happened.

Harry looked at his godfather. "Sirius, close the doors. We can't let anyone out." The dark haired man nodded and moved to seal the doors. It was unusual to have an apparation barrier around, especially at a friendly gathering like this, but they had decided to do so for fear of attack. And the ever pursuing reporters.

Harry called his staff to him as yet more fell, and cast his senses out. Yes, there were dark wizards waiting outside -they didn't know yet whether or not the spell had taken effect.

***********************************************************************

The blurry world started coming into focus as he stumbled forward a few steps, catching his balance. Blinking, he looked around.

A second later he remembered what was going on and stiffened. He surveyed the group -everyone was here. Except Harry of course.

Someone was gently pulling the reporter out of the hall, and another was telling everyone to calm down, that they were safe now.

He could see a Mediwitch tending to a man who hit be hit with the Cruciatus. Harry had moved the man out of harms way. If he hadn't, the man would have been outside the circle, and would have met a worse fate by now.

Percy was still lying on the ground. Ron's eyes narrowed

Ron moved over to him. He bent down, grabbed the traitors arm and hauled him up. "You just handed him over to them! My best friend! I'm gonna make you pay, _brother_."

The usually composed man wore a look of intense confusion. "No… what? Ron…"

"You bastard," Ron shot at him. 

It was Ginny though, who punched him. Her face was filled with grief and anguish.

Hermione stood a few feet away with her wand pointed at Percy, and she quickly performed a spell to bind him.

"He is a possible Death Eater," she said to two Aurors, who promptly hauled his brother away. Ron finally looked around -they were in a large room, apparently a ministry building. It couldn't have been in the actual ministry, however, because he could tell that they were not underground. His father was conversing with a man at the other side of the room, Bill was with them -though he was looking at Percy as he was taken away.

Ginny was standing there trying to get her emotions in check.

"Hermione, where exactly are we?" he asked.

"The Department of Mysteries -That's the Head, over there, talking to the Minister."

Ron glanced around again in shock. "…How did you-?"

"Ron… I am training to be an Unspeakable."


	42. 40: Problems Galore

Chapter 40: Problems

I'm trying to think about how to make the beginning of this story more interesting… the later chapters are longer and more interesting. (Probably because I got better along the way.) Does anyone have ideas on first 7 chapters or so?

Enialedam: It is really god forsaken long… maybe I should have put some of these ideas into a different story. Have you read Harry Potter and the Third Key? That's got over 70 chapters, and all the chapters are (I'd guess) a good three times as long as mine. (It's on Schnoogle.)

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Malfoy stood back at a distance and watched the fight begin. He would be cursing Potter right now, along with the rest, but he had orders.

And as a Malfoy, he did his duty. Whether he enjoyed it or not. Right now, he _was_ enjoying it, with his typical sneer fixed in place.

He was among the most powerful Death Eaters, despite his age, and he intended it to stay that way. There were always others vying for power, influence. Right now many were directing their misbegotten schemes at Voldemort's new pet. The man was from some god forsaken region of the planet, and as creepy as they come. His specialty -demons. He was a problem simply because he was a mystery. Draco didn't know what he wanted.

Draco had no intention of risking Voldemort tracing him to say, a poisoning. No, he just set others to the task, without them knowing it. Dimwits.

Potter was putting up a damned good fight. Draco hadn't seen him since he'd been at school, except of course, in the newspapers. The reporters had taken to using charms to keep the image of their star in place. How the aforementioned annoyance was managing such a strong shields, Malfoy would never know. -and was that a _staff? _ Potter always was a showoff.

Malfoy laughed as one of the Death Eaters (with those special shields) tackled Potter. And, by the expression on Potter's face, he didn't want to kill him. Good thing for Potter that could fight physically. 

__

Son of a Muggle Bitch, Malfoy cursed mentally, as a minor explosion rippled outward from the altruistic brat, tossing Death Eaters and various creatures away from him.

"Malfoy," the familiar cold voice hissed from behind him, radiating that familiar chill.

Draco turned and bowed to the creature he had been born to follow… as long as it remained viable, of course. "Lord." Behind Voldemort was a dark _thing_, as repulsive as the dark lord and even more frightening. No doubt that demon spawned pet of Voldemort's had somehow drawn it out of some hellish dimension. It didn't seem to really be there, so shadowed was it's visage. Draco kept his expression blank.

Potter was much closer to the edge of the graveyard, whether intentionally or not. 

Voldemort hissed something in parseltongue; The creature started for Potter.

"You may begin," his 'master' informed Draco.

With his signal, eight Death Eaters, all magically strong and steeped in dark magic, surrounded Potter while the demon kept him busy. They trained their wands on him as the others stepped back. His Master had found a way to make Potter's life interesting, one that he believed suitable for his father's murderer. They began chanting.

The area darkened unnaturally. It was still day, yet the pale blue light that began surrounding Potter shone clearly.

The light coalesced around Potter, and the expression on Potter's face flickered, with just what Draco couldn't discern. Potter was still engaged with the Demon, however, and his sword was now jagged from impacting with the Demon. Potter tossed the sword over his head and it struck a Death Eater in the abdomen.

Voldemort made no sound as he stood nearby Draco.

Another reached over from behind and grabbed the wand, and a more feminine voice continued for him. That reminded Draco that the Lestrange woman had been captured. Once Potter was in control, her husband would no doubt have at him. Draco would try to get that recorded; Both Lestranges were experts at torture, mentally and physically.

Potter cut deeply into the demon's neck with a new sword, which Draco had noted had materialized in his hand. Magical energy ripped through the sword, and into the demon. Most interesting. They had really chosen their tool well.

Potter looked around him, with a tight face, as if he were trying to figure out where some pain was coming from. Again Malfoy wondered what exactly Voldemort's spell was doing to him… Speaking of which, the second phase was beginning.

Dementors, their tall dark forms noticeable among even the Death Eaters, moved forward.

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Far too soon, the guests would start dying. The spell would, literally, still them. Humans were never completely still; Our hearts pumped blood through our veins, our lungs automatically drew in air. This spell would kill, and for all his knew, Seamus was already dead.

Ron faltered mid sentence and sat down clumsily, promptly falling off the chair; Hermione fell shortly after.

He summoned a shielding charm as the wizards outside approached. He knew, however, that he could not hold it and_ begin the transportation charm Hermione had taught him. He was in a bind._

He considered his options while Sirius' voice boomed through the building as fended off frightened guests. Begin the transportation spell and leave the defense to others; Lead the defenses while trying to devise another way out. He could try clearing a path for the guests, but the muggles among them would not be able to apparate out. They had used portkeys to get them here, but unlike old times, they hadn't had to each dozens. Instead they had tied them all to one portkey, and that just do happened to be entirely too far away from the building, in light of the situation; In other times it would be a splendid stroll through the gardens.

"Brian!" His voice carried urgency, though remained controlled. This was not the first crisis he'd been through.

In the war, Brian had worked with him as even Ron and Hermione hadn't. Both had been key figures, and had their own responsibilities. The first time someone died under his command, Brian had forced him to remain sober. Then_ he'd gotten him drunk. "What do you got?"_

"I can't to do two things at once. Hermione could do the spell, but I don't have the time to release her from the curse. So, you've got to hold out." He gave Brian his best estimate of how long it would take, and his friend grimaced. 

Knowing that Brain would take care of organizing a defense, he reached to Hermione prone form, and took an object out of a one of her hidden pockets. Being a Unspeakable meant she always tried to be prepared for unexpected difficulties.

As he took the object, He called out for everyone to gather around him. Unconscious figures lifted from the marble floor, and slowly floated closer to him. The smaller the translocation circle, the faster he could perform the spell. It meant that the defenders would have to get themselves into the circle before a certain amount of time elapsed as well; Lest they be trapped on the wrong side as he had been once.

So he began the spell, surrounded by the unconscious, aware of a number of presences closing in on the building. 

A good deal of the wizards were readying themselves for defense, as many were not strangers to war, (thanks to a vicious civil war); Though Ginny was directing the brave but inexperienced towards Harry. While a good portion of the guests were either Aurors, Unspeakables (not that anyone knew), and such, being associates of Ron and Hermione, some only had experience in suffering from byproducts of the war, but not in battles.

Others had been visited by the terror engendered by such peril, and stood nervously, fidgeting. Muggles who had felt the side effects of the war through their wizarding relations tried calming others, or waited grimly. Parents clutched their children for fear that they might try running away as the noises of battles began piercing the air.

More still fell; Those who chose to defend were not immune, making it increasingly difficult for them. Someone saw the need, and stationed a few for the sole purpose of getting the fallen out of the way, lest they trip those who were fighting. 

Through his 'other' senses, Harry could still perceive what was occurring, when other wizards would be blind and deaf. He felt the attackers' surprise as some bold muggle let loose on them with bullets… he couldn't imagine who had actually brought a gun to the wedding. Or had some wizard conjured it?

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Magic swirled around him.

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I thought this part of the flashback was a bit long winded, but, oh well. It'll be ending soon anyways.


	43. 41: Mere Moments

I've really had to start cutting back on my chapter length -they keep getting longer and longer. It's irritating. But anyways, sorry that my chapters are getting posted at longer intervals, but I am in highschool, and we do have finals. They'll be over by next week though.

This is a depressing chapter. I know people like fluff, and I'm working on it. It's just not happening yet. Or in the next chapter.

Voldemort is probably slightly different in my story. I don't know how -maybe more controlled fits.

LittleEar BigEar's sis: ^_^

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Voldemort.

That was the name he'd assumed, the signal to others that he had become something more.

He was a man, though he liked to believe that he was above the rest. His life -and death- was governed by his goals and his ambitions. And his hate. He understood that hatred could not be allowed to rule him; Yet it was a large part of his existence.

He enjoyed being surrounded by his followers. He _ruled_ them, and he would rule every living thing if he had his way.

Potter had no idea what was happening to him. He no doubt felt like his thoughts were slogging through icy water. As the dementors gliding ever closer, Potter surveyed his surroundings. He really didn't know what to do.

Potter wouldn't want to kill everyone, though he might possibly be able to -though not Voldemort himself, of course. He probably didn't understand why they had all trying to kill him... without using the killing curse.

Neither did his Death Eaters. But, he didn't really care whether they, or Potter, understood. If only Potter hadn't gotten lucky at the graveyard where his accursed father had been buried… but Voldemort didn't have the time to ruminate, and this should prove a just punishment for such an irritation.

There was a flash of light, and a reddish shield appeared, with white overlaying it. Voldemort used his senses to feel out the three foot in diameter circle, completely unconcerned with the fact that Potter had taken out another Death Eater. How interesting. Potter was using a short of defensive Patronus. 

Voldemort wondered who had came up with it; Maybe he should kidnap Granger. No doubt though, Dumbledore had a hand in it though.

It made no difference in any case. The Dementors were not going for Potter. Instead they merged with the jets of energy that Potter was having such a problem warding off. The light changed color, now having the purple energies of Dementors mixed in to complete the spell.

Oh, the look on Potter's face. He was definitely feeling it now. How would his Gryffindor optimism survive? It _would_ be interesting to see how long it took him to break down.

A reflexive flash of energy from Potter sent most of the Death Eaters sprawling.

Voldemort smirked and moved forward, his motions somehow unnatural.

"Potter," he said looking at the defeated opposition -not that he knew he was defeated yet.

The dark haired boy tired to shake out the dazed feeling. "Riddle."

It would not due to let Potter know how much the use of that name pissed him off. "Enjoying your memories Potter? I'm sure your fond of the one's involving your _Family." _If the Death Eaters found out about his misbegotten heritage, he'd have to waste time killing and torturing some of them.

"The ones of you top it." And quick as lightning, the killing curse was heading for Voldemort. He could have easily stepped out of the way, but he didn't. Potter was ever so predictable. This would be a good demonstration for his Death Eaters.

He let the spell hit him, and the world stilled as his battled the life sucking energy. They all watched as he bent, his expression unreadable. He would show no pain.

And he straightened up. "You all thought _I_ could be killed? No. Never again." Potter, who was entirely unsurprised, though vastly disappointed and overwhelmed by the spell, sank to a knee.

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Sirius was an old man now. It didn't surprise him that he hadn't the chance to duck the binding spell. So he lay there, doubting that anyone would have to time to float out of the crossfire. 

He tried to figure out what was going on, but that was proving difficult, as most of his view was occupied by the blue marble floor. His mind kept running a question through his head. 'Why aren't they all using the killing curse.?' He should be dead right now, not stunned. They were aiming to kill most, and stun some. Why?

Then suddenly his mobility was back -someone had taken the second to free him. He surreptitiously shifted. The Offenders had just broken through the main entrance, which he had been defending, The Aurors among them had called for a retreat; That didn't do the gray cloaked wizards any good, as beyond the doors was a relatively large area, with two staging points -small rooms. 

Each room had a doorway to the room behind it. Those rooms also had entrances facing the attackers. The defenders in the first to rooms could easily retreat to the second set of rooms. From there, they would go to the series of thin galleries parallel to the hallway that extended behind the quartet of rooms.

Right now, they were still in the first set of rooms, and were easily picking off their opponents. It was obvious that whoever picked this party to ambush hadn't expected the resistance. So they had to be from somewhere distant, not England or it's closest allies. Somewhere where they knew something of the wizarding community in England, but not overly much of the individual people. Not many would try this on the Trio.

Right now he had a problem. He didn't know where his wand was, and he was just as likely to get hit as the attackers.

His theory was confirmed as a witch knelt by him, trying to become less of a target. What confirmed it was the curses she was muttering, in a language he didn't recognize.

The woman gasped when pain suddenly ripped through the hand which gripped her wand. She reflexively tried jerking her hand away, only to find that teeth were deeply imbedded inside the hand… teeth that were attached to a very large black dog.


	44. 42: Bleary

Ye gads, sorry for the delay. Life figured out where I was hiding, chased my down, and tackled me to the ground.

So here is a really friggen long chapter that I finished at 1:25 in the morning.

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***********************(Older Harry's flashback)****************************

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The sun would rise soon.

A while ago he had woken up, and now found himself situated in a large chair.

He had a bleary view of the surrounding countryside, as one of the walls of the room was transparent.

The sky was getting brighter at the horizon, still no more than a light blue. He found himself absently staring down at the spot where he knew the sun would appear. From this elevation the world was half blue, half green; With the increasing light, he could now discern the outlines of hills and clouds. Down below, trees cut through the light, casting long shadows.

He remained where he was, making no move to read the piles of parchment on the table to his left, as he had already read through every single bit. Reports, books, letters, ledgers, transcripts, translations, all manner of things, were scattered across the table.

Of course, it wasn't nearly all his paper work; Just those which related to the attack on his best friend's wedding.

They had suspects, of course, plenty of them; He had spies and investigators at work. A lot of the information on that table didn't have anything to do with the real perpetrators… 

A major problem was that the British magical community wasn't cohesive anymore; There was no longer even a Minister of Magic. He could be considered high up in the hierarchy, but it really was relative. Hogwarts had been rebuilt, and had become even more important. It provided a commonality among all the British -most went to Hogwarts, created ties with others. Hogwarts was now several buildings, and tied administratively to several other schools, allowing for specialties.

He was not at Hogwarts however.

He was at Olympus. Like the mythical home of the gods, his home was not the easiest thing in the world to reach, being as it was floating high above the ground. It wasn't quite a castle either, though large enough to be one. It also wasn't properly his. An entire community lived here. 

It has just sort of grown. Originally, it had been a staging point for The Order, near the end or the war. (They had desperately needed someplace that wasn't crawling with refugees and children). After, it had been fragmented to different purposes.

He got up and let his feet take him where he had gone often in the preceding days. He could feel the magic around him, now ignored by his conscious mind, but never ignored in his subconscious. He was always aware of the wards surrounding places, the spells and enchantments on objects, the magic and feelings within living beings.

A portion of Olympus was claimed by the Order of the Phoenix, though not a large amount -they had opened the structure to others, as there just wasn't the need for most of it anymore.

Official's offices, training areas, research, a small hospital… there was even a small school for younger children.

The doorway he was heading for opened as a young researcher exited, giving him a respectful "Sir," and moving past him. Harry recognized him as one of the one's working on a cure for… those in a coma

People lived here as well: People who had no where to go. People who needed help in dealing with trauma for the war, some to scared to live anywhere else. People who wanted to learn or train. Families. 

Most people were welcome, and the non-human. They had made allies during the war that he did not want to lose.

He entered the room, and greeted with the blinding color of white. He headed to the room he knew he'd find Hermione and Ron. 

"Harry," she said in greeting, not moving from her position beside Ron.

"How'd you know?"

"Why, The Great Potter has very instinctive footsteps you know."

"Those of a Griffin, or perhaps with the roar of a Dragon?"

Hermione smiled a little, "Be careful, I could sell this new tidbit to the press."

"Ugh." He dumped himself into a chair on the other side of Ron, and regarded the woman sitting across from him. "You were gone last night."

She had left -no doubt on Unspeakable business, and he was inviting her to share information. "Someone's screwing around with the wards on The Pit."

He frowned, "Who would want to do that?" The Pit was where they'd corned the last of the Devils. Way back when, Voldemort had found a servant who was adept in demonology. Using him, and some research he stole, Voldemort had created a combination Dementor/Demon to combat the rising creation of defenses against dementors. The only thing good about the combination was that the proximity of one didn't effect you as much. That was the only good thing.

Looking a bit disappointed, she responded, "Just a small group of demon worshippers." She was disappointed because they were still trying to figure out how to cure Ron, and the others. You see, some of the infected guests from the wedding had died, some of the guests was been cured, and some had fallen into coma's.

"Quit thinking about it." He knew Hermione was preoccupied with Ron -who wouldn't be? But she was aggravated by the fact that he was in a coma, and she wasn't, when there had only been a second's difference from when he and she had been infected. "Here is food for thought -We've finally got a name for our primary suspects. Secuutus."

"That's odd -it means followers right?," Harry nodded, "So what are they following."

"My spy said that they respected Voldemort quite a bit -He thinks that they are following his footsteps."

"We've had no indication that they were looking for immortality… unless they aren't thinking of it on an individual basis."

"What I'm concerned about are all the links we've been finding. Mark, the headmaster from Hogwarts- do you remember him? Gryffindor, five years behind us- just sent me a letter. One of his students parents have disappeared and he thinks the Harbingers have something to do with it."

"And they have a connection to the Secuutus."

"These connections aren't just local -the Head of the department of International Cooperation sent me a reference of the Secuutus' connections with groups in Germany and Norway."

"…The coalition?" Long had a theory, vague rumors, of something called the coalition. It was supposedly a movement for 'groups outside the government' to form a loose alliance.

"I'm beginning to wonder." After a moment of silence, he added, "I'm going to start lobbying for a meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards."

Hermione's surprise showed up on her face, which meant a lot, considering the mask she had developed for her job. "Do you really think you could get that to work? At the last one, Dumbledore died…"

"Got to try, and the Potter Perseverance is famed across the land."

"Humph, well, I'll check with the Department to see if we can help." Hermione stood up, "I've got to get to work; I heard someone had the idea of using Pixie Dust, which has possibilities…"

And so Harry was left alone with his unconscious friend, staring absently at the trademark red hair. He hoped Hermione would get more sleep. She had gotten upset a couple days ago and actually set a chair on fire. Such an incident was not completely uncharacteristic, but rare -She'd said that Ron's temper must be rubbing off on her.

He would keep searching for answers, especially to what had happened to Sirius. No one knew what had happened to him; Which was sure as hell not a good thing after they'd just gone though a bloody battle. Sometimes, he wondered if there would ever be a time when he would not have to worry…

A/N and so ends the flashback (long overdue) -did you find the hint of an upcoming invent?

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*******************(Younger Harry -Voldemort's POV)************************

He hissed in parseltongue, mainly for the purpose of discomfiting his Death Eaters,_ "Your fight is useless Potter. Your mistaken friends are all going to die. I will inevitably win, for I am not constrained by notions of what is right or what is wrong. You should thank me Potter. _

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"You are wrong. Your murder, twist, and banish all people who are good and brave enough to oppose you," and Potter hissed back reflexifly,_ "Viridian."_

Voldemort felt pain spike through his leg and looked down to see a snake viciously biting into his leg. An inhuman hiss of rage escaped him, causing Draco to back off a bit before he regained his Malfoy dignity. Most poisons couldn't kill him, but this snake was really quite deadly. He could stave it off for a while, but he was going to have to cut this short.

"Now Potter, I can only do the world a favor by opposing and dominating it, as adversity shows potential. Surely a stable government would be better than the farce we have now -Fudge nearly lost the war for your 'light side' before it began." He said this as he reached down and grabbed the sake, ignoring it's further attempts to bite him.

"You are _insane_."

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"So will you be before long Potter," He hissed. _"Do you think you will miss this snake? What is it's name… Viridian?"_

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"It's just a snake."

Potter was predictable. Voldemort crushed the snake and tossed it aside.

"You know what is interesting Potter? We are each heirs of both Gryffindore and Slytherin. Interesting, is it not?" 

Potter had such a look of incredulity, as he knew many Death Eaters did under their masks.

"What exactly is your purpose in telling me that? Is there a reason you are standing there prattling?" The poor boy was angry over the snake no doubt.

"There's no need to attempt to stall me Potter, I am perfectly content to wait for your friends -whom I might point out, are taking there sweet time." He never intended to take Potter anywhere. No, this prison would contain Potter anywhere, and demoralize his friends to witness.

Sometime during the conversation, Potter had stood up, powered by his righteous fury. Now, however, he wavered, unable to concentrate as whispers invaded his head, no matter how much he willed them away.

It was nice to see one's enemy so weak.

One of the Death Eaters assigned to watch the area came running, a small dagger in hand. "Master, one of the sentries was found dead, with this embedded in his chest."

Voldemort picked up the unusual dagger and coldly examined it. Potter's friends had finally shown up, and there were elves among them. He whispered a spell and the dagger disintegrated in his hand. The elves had made their choice then.

He was about to call for his Death Eaters to depart, when he saw a stirring in the crowd of the Death Eaters. His inhuman eyes narrowed as one of them stepped forward and shouted the deadly curse, at Potter.

He did nothing.

Potter screamed and fell. Energies rippled about him. The various spells woven about him, desperate attempts by his friends, battled desperately with the deadly magic. Potter twitched, his breathing raspy. The rippling energy's violence diminished, and Potters gasping breaths could be heard among the deadly silence.

Those waiting in silence took this opportunity to attack.

Voldemort ignored those Death Eaters falling as he walked toward the offending Death Eater, as if they were ants. He cast the cruciatus on the man, then killed him. The man was lucky he didn't have the time to punish him properly.

He turned to see Dumbledore leaning over Potter. Should he end it now? No; He would lose to many Death Eaters in the time it would take him to kill the old man. And besides, he wanted Dumbledore to see the pain his pet was in.

All the Death Eaters winced as pain shot up their arms the instant before they disappeared.

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Please, people, please, where might there be a beta reader?


	45. 43: Cruel

Remus awoke stiff and aching. It was a gloomy day, made so by the oppressive clouds overhead. The trees around him cut large swaths into the weak light, creating a forest of shadows.

He gingerly moved a bit, then began stretching his muscles. The pain he felt in every muscle, every bone, every inch of skin, was the pain he'd felt every month for most of his life. He accepted it.

Yes, accepted. For the most part anyway. Not really accepted. More like _dealt with_. 

A lot of werewolves couldn't deal with it. Why do you think so many were mercenaries? He would never forget the tribe he'd run across, sometime in the years after James and Lily died. His friends were gone. So he'd left… and went a great many places. This tribe of werewolves had seemed to be just a community banded together to face persecution. And then he'd found out that they would go out and deliberately create werewolves to join them -it didn't matter how old they were.

To him, that was cruel. 

He stood up and walked around a bit, then apparated to where he'd left some things. So far away from England, with no access to a Wolfsbane potion, he couldn't exactly lock himself up in a building without taking certain risks, and he needed to keep up his anonymity. So, here he was, in the middle of nowhere.

He ate a quick breakfast and decided to contact Moody right away. Sometimes he'd have no choice but to rest after a full moon; Most often though, he'd push on despite the lethargy tagging after his every movement.

After he packed up everything, he sat down and pulled out a mirror. After several incantations, he said, "Moody, it's Remus." It would have been much easier to use a campfire (most people didn't know that you could in fact use any fire for communication, though you had to know how, and it wasn't exactly easy) but as he didn't know where Moody was, that wasn't feasible.

So they'd resorted to even more laborious communication techniques -mirrors. The bigger the mirror, the harder it was, hence the small size of the mirror currently resting in his hands. After a few minutes passed a hazy image appeared, which did appear to be Moody.

One could never be too careful though. Verification of their identities, to the best of their ability to do so, only took a few seconds. "Remus. Are you fit?" The other man no doubt took note of his abnormally pale face, complete with dark circles under his eyes. He probably looked downright haggard.

"I'm fine, any news?" He had been working with Moody for a while now; They had been continuing their work in ferreting out Death Eaters. It was almost ineffectual work, considering the amount of effort it took to reveal who was a Death Eater, considering that nearly everyone was suspect. But, it would give people some hope; And that was part of the Orders' job.

"Unfortunately the squirrelly bastard has disappeared. We think he Disappointed old Voldie." Well, so much for that one. When you pissed off Voldemort, you ended up dead. Remus thought it was truly sad; some Death Eaters truly believed in Voldemort and his supposed 'ideals,' not really seeing what they were perpetuating. They were peoples neighbors, the friends, their family.

"Anything else?" he was trying not to remember all the times he'd gotten disastrous news after transformations.

"Aye; Voldemort crashed Weasley's funeral."

Dread descended on him like an anvil, accentuating his fatigue. Harry, Dumbledore, and all the Weasleys had been there. "Go on."

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Remus walked into what they referred to as the Asylum. It was really just a small Order operated clinic, and yes it was white… or not.

He raised an eyebrow as he walked into Harry's room, as it was not white, but, well, psychedelic. "Do I want to ask?"

Ron and Hermione were sitting next to a table stacked with letters, merriment spread across their faces. Ron looked up at his voice, "Remus! Ah, lets just say that my brothers remembered how much Harry hates white."

Hermione shook her head and said, "Now he is going to hate every color."

Remus smiled. He'd always found the twins antics amusing; they hadn't lost their enthusiasm like he and Sirius had. No, not lost. Sirius was still a nutcase; they were just darker. He looked at the letter in Ron's and hand, guessing at the source of their current amusement. "Should you be reading Harry's mail?"

Ron looked at the letter and sniggered. "Harry always lets us read his mail. Every year the amount of it increases -believe me, if you are really bored, reading this junk will cheer you up in not time." He started to read off the letter in a travesty of a woman's voice, but Hermione had the sense to snatch it away from him.

"You have no idea how many ways Harry has tried to get rid of his mail; these people just don't give up. There is this service that will handle mail for you, you know? Well, now everyone sends them their mail for Harry, and they get paid to send it all at him as soon as they figure out where he is."

Remus frowned, "They don't know he is here do they?"

Ron replied, "No, they sent all this to St. Mungo's. That's where everyone thinks he is."

Remus, "Ah, yes. I went there looking for Harry and found only pandemonium; Jasmine spotted me and let me know he was here, or I'd still be sinking into a pile of reporters."

"Reporters really are vultures," Hermione muttered.

Remus was a bit surprised -it wasn't like her to generalize people like that. But then again, he'd heard about how Rita Skeeter had ended up in a jar.

The door opened and Sirius came in. The tall dark man went straight to where Harry lay, not even noticing the new decorations. Remus stood up and moved over to him.

"You know you look like a drowned puppy right."

Sirius smiled half-heartedly and turned a scrutinizing gaze on Remus. Before he could demand the reason Remus wasn't at home resting, Hermione asked, "Where is Percy?" Remus turned back to the table, where Hermione now looked tense, and Ron murderous.

Percy… "Percy?"

Ron answered his face a mix up furious emotions, "He was working for Voldemort. He let them get to Harry."

He looked at Sirius. He expected to see a likewise expression of fury, but found only weariness and sorrow. There was more to it. "What is it Padfoot?"

"Ron, Percy was manipulated. It _was_ the Imperious, but there were… things used on him before that. potions, memory charms. He's not doing so well."

Another life destroyed by Voldemort.

Hermione put a hand on Ron's arm. He still had fury in his face, but pain as well. "Can we see him?"

Sirius asked, "Yes. He's at St. Mungos."

The two left, and Remus heard Hermione's voice as the door closed. No doubt she'd be able to calm Ron down. Granted, they often got each other riled up, but it worked both ways.

Remus pushed Sirius into a chair and sat down himself. His best friend was now looking worriedly at his godson again. Sirius always pushed himself too far, though he accused Remus of doing the same, and his position in the Order provided good excuse to do so. Now his friend looked like he'd been run over by a muggle truck. Remus decided to prompt Sirius, "They couldn't tell me exactly what was wrong with Harry."

"He's stuck in his nightmares."

Remus drew in a measured breath to calm himself, ignoring the accompanying stinging. "What exactly do you mean?"

Sirius continued. "Do you see how livid his scar is?"

Remus looked at Harry, "You mean, he'd stuck in a perpetual nightmare with nobody to talk to but Voldemort?"

"He was more lucid after he woke up for the first time… then he just sort of degenerated. It wasn't- They are keeping him unconscious now, though he probably would be without interference."

"No one has told Ron and Hermione about this yet, have they?"

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Not particularly productive chapter, eh? But I did add a bit of fluff… Well, Hopefully we are going to see the Older Harry being his mysterious self in the next chapter.


	46. 44: Departure

Yee gads, I've been writing on this thing for over five months!

*******************(You all do remember who Malik is right?)************************

Malik looked at his watch, which was charmed to look like a normal watch; when he looked at it; however, he saw planets and stars. It was much like Dumbledore's watch, which he'd once thought that he would never be able to read until hell froze over.

He moved away from the counter. He locked up display cases, and put a sign on the door saying that it was closed indefinitely. Then he locked the door and set up his security charms.

He had no plans to return here anytime soon.

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Ron and Hermione sat side by side in a companionable silence. Hermione's eyes were a bit red, and they looked for all the world a couple who had received bad news some time ago; Now they were just enjoying the comfort of each other's presence. 

The two slumped slightly against each other, their eyes closing, for they were now asleep.

The agent of this sudden trip into unconsciousness was a wizard standing unnoticed in the corner of the room. Maybe they would have noticed him if the room wasn't such a blinding kaleidoscope of color, but then again, maybe not.

He walked over to where the younger version of himself lay and put a hand on his chest, his eyes closing. The Phoenix on his shoulder began a faint song, almost beyond human hearing. "Damnation, it's what I thought."

He breathed in, in preparation. Then his world tilted as he entered the dark cell that was his counterpart's mind.

__

Being in someone else's mind was a terrifying thing. Foreign thoughts would assault your sanity. Memories would drown you.

Young Harry's mind was a whirlwind -A million hells swirled around him, all designed to torment him in one way or only. They were also quite effective, seeing as how they were the manifestations of his own mind

His unconscious was certainly active. Faces of those he hated and those he loved swirled around his younger self at every angle, scenes of every painful moment he'd every had playing out behind them. 

It was a maelstrom. His conscious mind was currently running through a secret hallway in Hogwarts, whist the castle crumbled behind him. The older Harry remembered this one -he had to keep running, to find, and save everyone, and if he didn't run fast enough, they'd all be crushed under the falling stones.

He mentally winced, as the link to Voldemort became active. He wasn't the only one who was visiting, apparently.

He had to bare the pain caused by the link's suddenly flaring up for a minute before it eased up. Voldemort hadn't even noticed him, which wasn't all that surprising. Currently he was tormenting the younger Harry.

He stayed vaguely tuned this the conversation as he began his work. Working with someone's mind was delicate work.

"Oh, your father's gravesite again Voldie? I'm getting kind of used to it by now. Would you mind conjuring a chair while you tell me -what? I'm only going to ignore you, so don't tell me about my parents, how I'm going to die and my little friends too, how I'm wrong, or how I should join you."

"Come now Potter, surely you prefer this better than some places? Your reaction when I locked you into that memory of your old cupboard was quite amusing." The smooth voice was aimed at destroying the boy's resistance.

His younger self sneered, "Yeah, and that version of Hogwarts filled with bodies and drenched in blood was pathetic. I would think it would remind you to much of the fact what that you are never going to have Hogwarts."

"You like snakes to you not Potter?" Somehow the older Harry didn't think his younger self liked the site of the snakes that were now slithering up his legs."

"Gee, I just noticed what a nice red sky you created. How quaint."

The snakes were gone now, and Harry's image of himself had unfocused as he combated the pain. The scene around them darkened as Harry's own mind unconsciously twisted it into a new scene. Voldemort cast a cursory glance at the image of Sirius cradling Arabella's body, then looked over to where Lucius Malfoy prepared to kill him.

"With you out of commission I have an open doorway; Do you realize that? And with Dumbledore leaving the country… my, my, my, Potter. I promise to let you know which of your friends dies when. And how."

"You son of a muggle bastard."

He could feel his younger self's mind tremble as Voldemort lashed out in response. Fortunately for the young man, he was ready.

He twisted Voldemort's connection back on itself, causing the 'man' no small amount of pain. Voldemort's mind wasn't pleasant and he had no intention of remaining their long. He ignored his revulsion and prodded Voldemort's mind which, he noted with satisfaction, was twisted into a state of extreme confusion. Odd loops and twists had formed which would keep him trapped for hours.

He was forced to withdraw as Voldemort's automatic defenses began an assault -but paused to send a mental curse at Voldemort.

******************************************************************************

He opened his eyes and looked down upon his other self. It was strange to look at a younger version of yourself, wondering how much you had changed. 

He contemplated the magic surrounding the bed. You could sense the anguish in his aura; A good empathy could learn a lot of his secrets while his defenses were obliterated like this. "Nothing I can do for him now, it would take too much time. I don't want to risk failure in Italy." 

The phoenix trilled it's sympathy, and flew around the room, to alight on the younger Harry's chest.

He stared for a moment in curiosity, but gave up trying to figure out why a Phoenix did what it did. "Thanks. I really hate to leave him -I remember what this felt like. And it didn't happen to me until later…" He trailed off in memory, and then smirked at himself. "I'm _old_."

Then he was gone.

Brian walked in, having finally gotten the chance to visit Harry. He paused in horror, looking around the room, "Bloody hell. The Weasley twins have been here." He stifled his amusement to a chuckle, noticing the red head sleeping comfortably next to the woman with frizzy brown hair.

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It was one of the rare times that Dumbledore was out of Hogwarts. Today he was within a nondescript Order building baggage already packed. He was supposed to have left already; Several Aurors and Order Agents were milling around waiting to accompany him. But, as always when he had to leave, several unexpected matters delayed him. "Minerva, Sprout's granddaughter has been arrested by Aurors. I think you'll understand that she isn't up to teaching right now. I've been considering a replacement, and I'd like you to contact Mr. Longbottom."

"_Longbottom._" Snape muttered his opinion of the idea evident.

"Longbottom?" McGonagall said at the same time as Snape, then shot him a look, "Alright Albus."

"Sirius." Dumbledore said. 

"Everything is running as smoothly as it can be -besides the problem with stationing the elves." Sirius and the man in charge of the Aurors had different ideas on how the elves should be put to use. Sirius wanted to set them up into three basic squads, and keep a special one in reserve for relieving injured from the former three, or for when only a few elves were needed in extra missions.

Sirius glanced at Ron, who looked unwilling to speak up. "I've been looking at the list of people targeted by Death Eaters." Ron hesitated here, figuring out what he wanted to say. The lists were long, the locations varied, but "there is something… you know the problems we had with news sources until we figured out that Voldemort was controlling them? If we had looked, we might have noticed that they fair-minded reporters had been killed, or noticed that their families. Lets just say that I'm watching."

Dumbledore looked at the red haired man intently with keen blue eyes, "Trust yourself." Ron wasn't the best chess player in England for nothing.

Remus arrived carrying a small, plain chest of belongings. Sirius gave it a look and said, "How can you fit anything in there?"

His only answer was "Packrat."

"Hey, I deserve to be!" After running around for so long with nothing.

Snape snorted at this, but Black only glanced at him. Surprisingly, hell had frozen over and created a new ice age: They'd finally learned to tolerate each other.

Dumbledore said, "I'm glad you could make it on short notice Remus." It went unsaid that he was filling in for Harry.

Remus set down his things and went across the room to greet Maya, who was also holding baggage. "Is that muggle?"

"Yeah, see the wheels?"

Snape obviously caught that snippet of conversation, as his face twisted in distaste. He might be on their side, but he still had grown up prejudiced against muggles -not say that plenty others hadn't as well.

Dumbledore and the rest of his party became more animated as they had no reason to remain any longer.

Minerva said to herself, "I wonder what a meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards is like?"

Snape responded, "I have one thing to say: bureaucrats."

"It's not set up by the governments -otherwise Arthur would be going."

"Humph," he answered sourly. 

"There's no need to be dour."

"Shut it Black. I've things to do." The black figure made a swath to the door.

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I soo could have made this chapter more depressing… Anyways, what you don't need to know is that this chapter has started the final sequence in my story -so I don't know when the next chapter will be out, as I need _everything_ in perfect order before I post it.


	47. 45: Get Ready

Joy of joys, my hard drive has passed away from all the beatings I gave it.  Hence the long wait;  Here is what I have scrambled together for you.

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Ron surveyed the maps spread out across the wall in front of him, then back at the list in his hand.  He was in a relatively large room at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement;  As he peered at the map, a clerk moved in front of one of the maps and added another mark.  

Should he say anything?  

_Trust yourself, Dumbledore had said._

He looked at his watch and decided he should get moving.  He had a meeting with the Head of the Field Division.  He didn't know why though, as he wasn't done training.  He'd simply received a message informing him of the meeting this morning.

He walked though the building to the man's office, and after a short wait he was admitted.  He found Gaverson sitting behind his desk, with Fletcher off to the side.  Ron was tempted to ask him why he was there, as he'd become familiar with him through the Order, but now wasn't the time to display familiarity.

He tried to keep his face blank, and settled with a respectful "Sirs."

"Ronald Weasley, you are now an Auror."

"…Sir?"

"Under the recommendation of the Academy, you are one of the new emergency instated Aurors."  
  


This was it then.  He'd only fought with the Order before -now he'd be at it full time with the ministry.  "Yes sir."  He had to wonder though, why the _Head was telling him about it?_

"I understand that you are good at strategy."

Ron ignored the rush of pride, "In chess at any rate."

The man glanced at the heretofore silent Fletcher.  "I'm assigning you to Fletcher's team, until further notice."

Fletcher stood and shook Ron's hand.  "Congratulations."

Outside the office, Fletcher indicated that Ron should follow him.  "Sirius said you were working on something?"

"I have a hunch, that Voldemort plans something for the Board of Governors."

"For Hogwarts?"

"What else?  Think about it though.  They control school policy -Dumbledore just enforces it."

"He'd never let Voldemort take over, regardless."

"Yes, but they are also Hogwarts source of funding."

Fletcher continued walking with a thoughtful look on his face.  "How is Harry?"  The grim look on Ron's face answered him.

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Dumbledore and his party made their way to Italy, passing by few muggle areas.  The journey was no doubt extended by their need to secrecy, although other members of the IC of W no doubt had an easier journey.

After reaching the mainland they made their way through Germany and Austria, and then on down to Slovakia.  They passed by the Italian City Trieste on their way to Venice, where they met up with Jeren Derboren, an Unspeakable.

He directed them onto a small boat, which was a rather curious means of transportation for a wizard.  Lucas Terpin, the emissary from the Department of International Magical Cooperation sent by Arthur on behalf on the ministry, was seated right at the edge.  It didn't take much observation to notice how often his hand would grip the side of the boat, or the suspicious glances he sent at water.

Dumbledore garnered some amused and doubtful glances with the sentence; "It's always exciting to try new things, is it not?"

As sunset colored the sky overhead, Derboren maneuvered the boat with ease down the watery canals; He was obviously used to this means of transportation.  No one on the boat was overly surprised when he maneuvered them into a wall, and through it.  They found themselves in a dark tunnel; answering a question from Maya, Derboren named the tunnel Ciclone, and explained that the entire system of tunnels was named Le Arterie.  

The boats speed increase was quite dramatic, and even the Aurors found themselves looking at the tunnel's walls in consternation; The fear being that they would 'miss' a turn and smash into the side of the tunnel…  Dumbledore, however, seemed as complaisant as ever.

They reached their destination in a few short hours.  The sprawling complex was revealed to be somewhere between Milan and Ravenna.  

A young man who led them to the main building, which was surprisingly modern, with glass and marble comprising most of it, met them.  

As soon as they entered the building they were welcomed by an Italian, who offered them a brief tour.  Another English member of the IC of W who had decided to accompany Dumbledore where others had decided to stay put in England, was Serafina Markich, and she asked in fluent Italian to be shown their rooms.

Most of those in the party knew several languages, as it was judged needed, even for the Aurors.  The guide, however, continued speaking in English as a courtesy.

"Your rooms are all adjoining -unless you would prefer otherwise?"

"That will be fine, signore."

They were led to a large Oak door with the English flag on the front, with Confederazione Internazionale dei Wizards inscribed overhead.

The Aurors subtly maneuvered themselves that two of them were the first inside.  It turned out to be a good sized waiting area, with six doorways leading to their own suits.

"Impressive," uttered Andrea Weasley, a cousin of the familiar Weasley family.  She was assisting the other IC of W member, Warren Mandre.

After seeing that they were all accommodated, their guide let them know that there was an informal gathering of those wizards who had already arrived tonight.

Dumbledore met with Maya and Remus to discuss the upencoming days.  "I will need to rely on you both to convey messages and keep your ears open.  We already know that Voldemort has nearly all control of Bulgaria, and yet I'm positive I glimpsed Zevaldin Ventizlan on the walk to our apartments."

Maya frowned, "Maybe he might know something that would help us?"

Remus countered, "Unless he seeks information that would help _others_."

"Do you think he will try to seek aid?  That can only strengthen our case, right?"

Dumbledore said, "I'm afraid there had been no indication that Bulgaria's government has contacted any other government for aid."

Maya grimaced as she set her tea on a side table.  "In other words, we don't know where Zevaldin stands.  Or anyone else for that matter.  Did I mention that I hate politics?"

Remus looked at Dumbledore questioningly; "Do you really think we have a chance of convincing the Confederation that Voldemort is a worldwide threat?"

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to measure something only he could see.  "We have a great deal of evidence, but it is likely that Voldemort has worked to counter us in ways we won't expect; For example, a testimony from Zevaldin could do much damage to our evidence of Voldemort's activities in that country."

"But Voldemort operated in several countries in his last reign, surely that will be remembered?"

"Do you think Voldemort will try something _here?"_

"If he's found a way to influence some of the members, yes, he will try to make us look the 'false messengers crying doom' if you will.  Though I'm more worried about him deciding that now is the time to overtake England.  With me out of the way, and young Harry stricken, he may just decide to seize the opportunity."

Remus regarding the pernsive old man, "The ministry is well hidden, and the Order would have warning if the were to strike.  I think Sirius can handle anything short of apocalypse."

"He is a strong man."  Spending twelve years in Azkaban broke everyone.  The Lestranges had maintained a limited sanity due to their pure devotion towards Voldemort, but even the innocent crumbled under the maddening cage of despair.  Sirius had shown an unexpected mental strength. 

Maya said, "I think we should check into Mandre, Terpin, and Markich's plans."

"Good idea."

Dumbledore turned to Remus, "Remus, I'd like you to find out where everyone is quartered, and inquire as to whether the French would be amenable to a visit later -They have been our strongest allies thus far. And the American Ministry has shown a surprising amount of concern over Voldemort's resurgence."

Remus took his leave and Dumbledore moved to the black oval on the wall.  Luckily, he knew how to use the communication device.  While fires were widely used in England, they were not considered the most secure form of communication.  Any owl he sent would likely not make it to England in a timely manner, or at all.

***********************************************************************

Hermione finished writing a hasty note to Ron, her pen scratching quickly across the parchment:

            _Dear Ron, _

_            I've been called away and I don't know how long I'll be gone.  Remember what Id you about sending letters, and keep an eye on Harry.  They may not have killed him when they had the chance, but I don't trust that he is at all safe.  It breaks me up to see him like that -this morning he woke up briefly, and it was awful.  I hope to see you soon._

_                                                                                    -Love Herm_

She folded the parchment and gave it to her owl, Athena.  She then grabbed a thick coat and her small suitcase, before stepped into the fireplace.

A good twenty minutes later she found herself at the Golden Tooth.  She didn't pause to sit down, but instead walked out of the pub and into the Alley beyond.

A man approached her and she, alert, made no move.  "C'est un hiver étonnamment chaud," he said in French.  _It's a surprisingly warm winter._

"Seulement si vous êtes la Russie," she answered.  _Yeah, If you are from Russia._

"You are being sent to Italy."  He handed her a folder.


End file.
